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Chapter 2

Aftermath

Yotsuba ran out the penthouse in a full sprint. She had to find Nino quickly! She had just done something incredibly stupid and she had to apologize for it. She'd been so excited lately she hadn't thought about the aftermath of Fuutarou's decision. The rest of her sisters were content with the result, but it was Nino that she was most worried about.

She spotted her heading into the park next to the lake. She had to wait for the cross light to turn green she sprinted after her. At first Nino didn't seem to hear her when she started calling out her name. When she finally did she paused only for an instant before walking on.

"Wait, Nino!" she cried, "Please! Wait! I just want to talk to you!"

The second quint finally halted and Yotsuba pulled up behind her, taking a moment to catch her breath.

"What do you want, Yotsuba?" Nino said impatiently, keeping her back to her, "I'm really not in the mood right now."

"Look..." Yotsuba swallowed, "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. That was totally dumb of me. I... uh, heh, heh, I really didn't know what I was thinking."

She tried to chuckle in an attempt to lighten the mood but she could tell Nino wasn't amused.

"Is that all?" she replied stiffly.

"Nino..." Yotsuba took a breath, "I never asked for Uesugi-san to choose me-"

"You're still calling him that?" Nino snorted, "Shouldn't you be calling him by his first name now?"

"Nino, please. I know you're upset by how things turned out-"

"That's not what I'm upset about and I don't want your sympathy. Just what are you sorry about anyway?"

She could almost hear Nino's teeth grinding. Taking another breath she stepped closer and placed her hands on Nino's shoulders.

"Nino, I know how you feel, but I don't want to see you carrying on like this. Things just... didn't go the way we expected. I wasn't trying to take him for myself-"

"Not trying to take him for yourself?"

Something must have snapped in Nino for she suddenly whirled around. Yotsuba only caught a brief glimpse of her fury before she was shoved, hard enough to cause her to lose her balance and she fell hard on her bottom. She yelped in pain before looking up to see Nino glaring down at her, fists tightly clenched and fighting to control herself.

At that moment she was very afraid. Nino looked like she wanted to beat her senseless.

"Nino..." Yotsuba reached out but her sister backed away, not even wanting to look at her.

"You lied to me."

Her blood turn cold.

"You lied to us!" Nino said again, "How could you not tell us that you knew him from before?! Oh, wait! I know why. Because deep down you wanted him all to yourself! You wanted the happy ending! You wanted to live happily ever after with the boy you love while we get left behind."

"N-No! Tha-That's not true!" Yotsuba cried, "I was trying to give you guys a fair chance-"

"Don't lie to me!" Nino screamed, "You knew all along and you took advantage of it!"

Yotsuba swallowed. There was no way she could deny that even if it hadn't been her intention.

"Now I know why you always stayed quiet whenever we had one of our talks with Fuu-kun," Nino spat, "Now I know why you never got involved. Now I know you were always disappearing to help a friend! It was because you didn't want him to get suspicious of you! You didn't want us to get suspicious either!""

Her lips trembled, "I did tell Itsuki-"

"You think that makes me feel better?! You only told her because you knew she would help you without question! You took advantage of her kindness just so you could protect your little secret! If you really wanted help you should have told us from the start!"

A long moment of silence passed as Yotsuba struggled to find words.

"Why couldn't you tell him yourself? You were the one who changed his life after all! Why did you have to keep it a secret all this time? Why couldn't you tell us? Your own sisters for God's sake! Why couldn't you have been honest with us from the very start? Was it really that hard for you?"

"I couldn't tell him for that very reason," she cried, "I was afraid he would shove me away. I was afraid he would see me differently."

Nino snorted, "Of course you would feel that way."

"I did it to protect him!"

"You did it to protect yourself!"

"I owed you guys so much!"

"You didn't owe us a damn thing! Did you really think we were mad at you? It was our decision to transfer with you! We did it in order to stay together! Just as we promised Mama!"

"I know, but if Uesugi-san knew..."

"Yeah, keeping your secrets was far more important than being honest with you friends, family, or even him. You haven't changed one bit. It's always been about you."

Yotsuba looked at her, startled.

"Oh, yes," Nino smirked, "We knew what you were doing at school, but we never said anything because of how happy it made you. We thought it was your way of coping with Mama's death. Now... I think you did it just so you could feel special, to feel superior over us! In fact, I think it was Ichika you despised the most. She had everything you didn't. Then we transfer and you start being helpful to everyone. At first I thought you were doing it out of kindness, but now I think you just used it as a way to avoid him as much as possible. You just didn't have the guts to face him! You made Itsuki do it instead! That's what I can't stand about you. You're so damn worried about how others will see you instead that you'll do anything to avoid taking responsibility! We've given you nothing but love and support, I myself went out of my way to help you, and this is how you repay us! By keeping secrets! You are such a coward it insults me to think that you're my sister!"

Yotsuba felt like she had just been slapped across the face.

"All I wanted..." Nino was close to crying now, "all I ever wanted, was to finally be with a guy I loved. Just one day would have enough, but you wouldn't even let me have that! You took whatever chances we had by cheating! You took everything from me!"

"I'm sorry..." Yotsuba finally whispered.

"Saying how sorry you are won't change anything," Nino spat back at her, "But don't worry. I won't try to take him from you. He chose you after all. It's over. You finally got what you always wanted. I just hope it was all worth it in the end."

"Can you at least forgive me?" she pleaded.

Nino turned away, "Honestly Yotsuba, I don't think I can. What you've done to me, what you did to us, cannot be easily forgiven. You may get to live happily ever after, but I'll never be able to look at you the same way again. Maybe I am being ridiculous, but to me you're nothing but a traitor."

Yotsuba flinched at that last word. A moment passed before she said, "If I ruined your life I'm sorry. That was never my intention."

"Sure it was," Nino started to walk away, then stopped and said, "You know, you weren't the only reason why we transferred."

Yotsuba's head snapped up, "What?"

Her sister gave a humorless laugh, "That's right, we never did tell you. Well, it doesn't matter now. It won't make a difference anyway. Like I said, it's over. You got what you wanted. Let's just leave it at that."

Nino finally walked away. Yotsuba could only watch her go until she was out of sight before she got to her feet and walked slowly home.

It had been five days since Fuutarou made his choice. Itsuki had expected things to go back to normal. Instead, something had changed tremendously between the quints and their tutor. They still had their study sessions like they always did, but something wasn't right. Something was very off. For the past five days there had been a great deal of tension floated in the air.

Today was no different. Their study session in the library had started like any other. Fuutarou was giving his lesson of the day, answering everyone's questions before going around with each quint individually to see how they were doing. It was here that Itsuki noticed the difference.

In previous sessions Fuutarou had gone through each quint randomly, never in any specific order, but now he was acting differently. His little chats with herself, Ichika, and Miku would go smoothly. When it Yotsuba's turn she would either blush, grin, or giggle while Fuutarou maintained his serious expression. Sometimes they would exchange a word or two before going back to the lesson. Other times Fuutarou would berate Yotsuba for a mistake she made like he always did.

She found it was cute seeing the two of them act like that. The two seemed perfectly suited for each other. She was glad, relieved actually, that Fuutarou had chosen her. Then he would turn to the one quint he'd seemed to be deliberately saving for last.

Nino.

For the past week he looked reluctant to approach her. Throughout the day, going all the way back on Monday, Itsuki had noticed that Fuutarou kept looking at Nino instead of Yotsuba. It always appeared that he wanted to say something, but no words would ever come out and he would go back to what he was doing before.

It was the same during study sessions. He would approach Nino only to hesitate again. It was if he just couldn't figure out what he wanted to say. In the end he would only ask her if she had any questions.

Nino, on the other hand, had not been the same since that night. The day after the festival Yotsuba had said that she had known all along that Fuutarou was the boy she had met they were children and that they had made a promise together. Itsuki had been stunned that Yotsuba had admitted it so easily when she hadn't been able to persuade her to tell the truth and be honest with herself.

Ichika and Miku were surprised of course, but Nino had been furious.

"You kept this from us the whole time?!" she had screamed.

Then Yotsuba had done something so unbelievable it had caused Nino to storm out. The rest had scolded Yotsuba severely for her carelessness. Later she learned that Yotsuba had gone out by herself to look for Nino. Before she could chase after her the fourth quint herself returned looking very miserable. She knew right away what happened.

"Are you doing all this on purpose?" she had said to Yotsuba, who said nothing in return and went straight to her room.

Nino came back that evening carrying grocery bags and started making dinner without saying anything. Itsuki had wanted to talk to her but Ichika advised against it, saying that now wasn't a good time. When Yotsuba came down for dinner Nino refused to look at her, virtually pretending that she wasn't there. When she was finished she put her dishes in the dishwasher and immediately went to bed.

It had been like that since then. Neither had said a word to each other. Yotsuba was too scared to approach her while Nino wouldn't even acknowledge her. It was now clear to the others that Nino resented Yotsuba, and for good reason.

Nino, on the other hand, hadn't been herself lately since that night. During their studies she was usually more outspoken. Now she was surprisingly quiet, even docile. Not once did she say anything snarky, try to make a joke, or even challenge Fuutarou like she always did. She just simply sat there and listened to whatever he was saying. This alone was enough to disturb the other quints. This was not the Nino they knew. It was as if a stranger had taken her place.

The thing that really caught Itsuki's attention was Nino's behavior towards Fuutarou's and Yotsuba's new relationship. Whenever they interacted Nino would turn away, look at her phone, pretend to be engrossed in her textbook, or just look out the window. However, Itsuki could see the mixture of anger and sadness in her eyes.

On one hand she couldn't blame Nino for feeling this way. She didn't disagree that Yotsuba keeping secrets from them was something she shouldn't have done, and she understood that Nino was hurt because she tried so hard to get Fuutarou to notice her only to see all her efforts amount to nothing because... well, because Yotsuba had gotten a head start on them all.

However, they all had to understand, Nino had to understand, that this was what they decided on. Fuutarou would make his choice and that would be the end of it. The task was done, so why did everything feel so wrong? Why did she feel so guilty? This was for Yotsuba. This was for the sake of her happiness.

She glanced over at Ichika and she glanced at her. Last night they talked about the situation in private and decided it was time to do something.

"All right, everyone," Fuutarou announced when the session was over, "You got your assignments for the weekend. Be sure to complete them the next time I see you."

As everyone got to their feet Itsuki glanced at Ichika again and they both nodded. Time to put their plan into action.

Miku had announced earlier that she wanted to visit the bookstore, which save them some trouble. Nino in the meantime left the library immediately.

Itsuki hastily gestured for Ichika to follow her before turning to Yotsuba, "Do you mind going home by yourself?"

She ignored Fuutarou's frown while Yotsuba looked at her curiously.

"Any particular reason?" she asked.

"I need to speak with Uesugi-kun privately," she answered honestly, "It's important."

She said it firmly enough for Yotsuba to understand.

"Okay!" she gave Fuutarou a goofy smile, "We'll talk later, okay?"

"Uh... Yeah..." their confused tutor replied before Yotsuba left.

Once they were gone Itsuki asked Fuutarou to follow her and led him into a empty classroom.

"What's this all about, Itsuki?" he said impatiently, "I got a lot of things to do."

"Just a minute," she looked outside to make sure no one was around to eavesdrop before sliding the door closed.

Approaching Fuutarou, she crossed her arms and looked him straight in the eye, "What happened between you and Nino that night?"

Right away he looked uncomfortable. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about this, but now that she had him cornered there was nothing he could do but to tell the truth.

"I..." with a groan he threw up his hands in frustration, "I don't know."

She stared at him, "What do you mean you don't know? When Nino came back she looked awful. When you came back you looked furious. And when Yotsuba asked you why you just snapped at her. How could you not know?"

"That's just it!" he all but screamed, "I don't know! I went to Nino with the intention of making sure there were no hard feelings between us only for me to feel like I had done something wrong. I've been going over it again and again since that night and I still can't make any sense of it!"

"Alright, calm down," Itsuki backed up a bit, "Just tell me what happened. What exactly did you say to Nino?"

Fuutarou took a moment to compose himself, "She asked me why I chose Yotsuba and I told her her."

"Told her what?"

"That she was the girl I met in Kyoto."

Itsuki's eyes went wide, "You knew? All along?"

"I figured it out a long time ago, but didn't say anything until then," he corrected, "How did you know?"

"She told me."

And only me, Itsuki shoved the thought away.

"Well, whatever," Fuutarou went on, "Anyway, after I explained that to her she started acting strangely."

"Strangely? How?"

"She... she acted like someone who just gave up. She said that she thought she finally had a chance with me, that it was over before it even began, and nothing of what she did mattered in the end, and then..."

"And then?" an uneasy feeling started to grow within her.

"She looked at me and said, 'I guess you just can't fight against fate, can you?'," Fuutarou ran his hands through his thick hair, "The way she said it, the way she looked at me when she said it... I can't get it out of my head. It's been bugging me ever since. What did I do wrong? Didn't I do the right thing?"

For a minute, Itsuki couldn't answer. She was replaying Nino's words in her head. Originally she thought that Nino was just taking this harder than the rest, but now she knew otherwise. This was worse than she realized.

"Uesugi-kun, is there anything that happened between you and Nino personally that the rest of us don't know about?"

She saw Fuutarou hesitate and she could just see the gears of his mind working.

"Well..." he shifted from one foot to another, "She did save my life one time."

"She what?" that was unexpected.

"It was all the way back at the winter camping trip, during the test of courage when Yotsuba and I were pretending to be ghosts."

"Oh, yeah," Itsuki remembered that time, "So it was you two, huh?"

Fuutarou ignored that and explained the whole story of how Nino saved his life.

"Did you ever thank her?" Itsuki automatically asked when he was finished.

"I did, but she still didn't know it was me. She then asked me to dance with her at the bond fire. I was actually going to, but then I got trapped in the shed with Ichika."

"I remember that. Did she ever find out about you?"

"She did, later on when she was living by herself after you two had that fallout."

"Ah," Itsuki remembered that time, "How did she find out?"

Fuutarou told her about that time when Nino had invited "Kintarou" to her apartment, how she exposed him, and what she did afterward.

"She drugged you? Again?"

"Yeah," Fuutarou sighed, "Although I guess I had that one coming since I was deceiving her."

"So she was mad at you because of that?"

"Yes, but she forgave me not long after," he sighed again, more heavily this time, "I don't get her at all. When we first met she hated me, she did everything she could to get rid of me. Then all of a sudden she says that she loves me-"

He went on complaining but Itsuki was no longer listening. She had come here hoping to find a solution, only to become even more confused than before.

"And now this!" Fuutarou's yell snapped her back to reality, "What's wrong with her? Why is she like this? Why can't she speak to me? Just what did I do wrong? Even at work she avoids me. Do you know what's wrong with her? Can you figure it out?"

"N-No... I can't."

Fuutarou went on another tirade while Itsuki became lost in her thoughts again. She was now extremely worried about Nino.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Nino looked up to see Ichika sit down across from her, a coffee cup in her hand.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have a meeting?"

"Not for another hour," Ichika took a sip, "I wanted to see how you were doing."

"What do you mean?"

"Are you all right, Nino?" Ichika watched Nino closley, "You haven't been yourself lately."

"I'm fine," she shrugged, "I just... got a lot of my mind lately."

"Are you still mad with Yotsuba?"

Her eyes flared the moment she mentioned that name and started to stand, "If you're going to start lecturing me I'm leaving."

"Calm down," she waved her back down, "I just want to know what's going on with you. I'm not happy with Yotsuba either, but you and Fuutarou-kun have barely spoken to each other this past week and you've been unusually... quiet about the whole thing. Even your cooking feels off. You've never been like this before."

Nino shrugged again, "So I've changed, so what? Is that really a bad thing?"

"Maybe not, but it's gotten the rest of us worried."

"There's nothing wrong with me, Ichika. Really, there isn't."

"I want to believe you, Nino, but I'm not convinced. We all know how hard you campaigned for him, so if you want to vent out your frustration go ahead. I'll listen to everything you say."

She suddenly laughed, "You know, Fuu-kun said the same thing that night."

"And what did you say?"

"Nothing. I didn't see the point of doing getting mad at him then so why should I now? It won't make a difference. It's over," a minute ticked by before she suddenly asked, "Tell me something, Ichika. Why did you fall for him?"

Ichika blinked at the unexpected question, "Pardon?"

"Why did you fall for him? I mean, he's no superstar. Nowhere near your type."

"Well..." Ichika suddenly grinned, "Because I thought he was cute!"

"I'm being serious, Ichika," she huffed, "Why would you go as far as you did in order to win him?"

"I know, I know what you meant," Ichika paused to think it over, "I guess it all started when he pushed me into pursuing my dream of becoming an actress. If he hadn't I wouldn't be where I'm at now, but that's not the only reason. In the celebrity world you always have to keep a watchful eye of everyone around you, because there's always that one person who will look for something, anything, to bring you down so they can get ahead. Sometimes I don't even trust my own agent. With Fuutarou-kun, he doesn't beat around the bush. He calls it as he sees it. He won't make excuses, he's honest to a fault, and he won't let you quit. He's loyal to his cause. That's what I truly admire about him. You don't meet very many people like that in the entertainment industry."

"Is that why you did what you did at Kyoto?"

"Part of it was," Ichika shrugged, "but the biggest reason was that I got selfish and I was desperately trying to catch up. The rest of you had gotten to know him while I was busy with my work and trying to provide money for that rundown apartment. I just never got to spend any time with Fuutarou-kun. But, as you saw, I went too far. I hurt Miku's feelings and I destroyed the trust between him and me. I deserved what I got. Then again, even if I hadn't blown my chances I might not have won anyway."

"How so?"

"Well, think about it. Can you really imagine someone like him dating, or even marrying, a celebrity like me when you consider how slow he is?"

Nino thought it over, "No, I don't think I could. Your worlds would clash too much."

"Exactly. Plus, the celebrity world isn't exactly a nice place for a guy like him. I learned very quickly that either things work in your favor or they don't. The media watches your every move, listens to every word you say. They create you. They can just as easily destroy you. On top of that your not allowed to have relationships outside of work."

"I doubt he would have cared."

"Maybe, but I would rather not put him through all that, and we all know how much he doesn't like dealing with problems. I think we would've broken up at some point."

"Hmm," Nino said nothing else.

A moment passed before Ichika asked, "What about you? Since we're on the subject, what made you fall for him? All your life you've talked about how you've always dreamed of finding your prince in shining armor, whisking you away on his great white stead. Fuutarou-kun's anything but that."

"I know," Nino chuckled, "He's a nerd who cares more about his studies than anything else."

"So what happened? Something must have happened for you to suddenly have a change of heart."

There was a long pause before Nino said, "Somewhere, somehow, I realized that Fuu-kun reminded me so much of myself and I didn't like it. Looking back, I think it all started when Itsuki and I had that fallout and I left to live on my own. You remember?"

"I do," Ichika nodded.

"One day I came back from a shopping trip and I found him standing there at the entrance of my apartment building, completely drenched and the chauffeur trying to shoo him away because of the smell he was making."

"Drenched? How did that happen?"

"He fell into the lake, at least that's what he told me. I was about to yell at him when I suddenly saw his face. He had the look of someone who'd just lost everything and had nowhere to go. It really took me by surprise. I've never seen him like that before. Instead of making him go I brought him over to my room and made him take a shower. Then we started talking. I asked how he ended up like that and he told me that he had met someone he thought he would never see again and that she was now gone forever. When he said that, I started crying."

"Crying? Why?"

"Because, for just one moment, I felt like I was speaking to my first crush again."

Ichika felt her heart stop. This was the first time Nino had ever mentioned her first crush since that tragic day.

"When Fuu-kun came to see me again I told him how I really felt," she looked up at Ichika, "You guys are about to spread your wings and leave the nest. Once we graduate we'll all go our separate ways and see each other again.

"That's not true," said Ichika, "We'll always be together."

"But it won't be the same as before. All of you have futures figured out. You will pursue your acting career, Itsuki will go to college, Miku... I don't know what she's going to do. Then there's Yotsuba who will..." Nino bit her lip, "undoubtedly go wherever he gos. Whereas me... I'll be all by myself."

Ichika flinched. It never occurred to her that Nino felt this way.

"Don't you know what you're going to do?" she asked.

Nino shrugged, "I don't know. Open a restaurant of my own, I guess? Become a chef? I guess it would be natural since I love cooking so much, but what's the point of having that when you have no one to share it with? Especially someone special?"

Ichika felt an uneasy feeling starting to creep into her.

"When Fuu-kun first came into out lives I saw him as nothing but a threat," Nino went on, "I felt he was going to take you guys away from me. That's why I tried so hard to get rid of him. All this time I've been looking after all of you and I worked hard to keep us together. Now you're going away. I know this can't last forever. I can't force you guys stay, but I'm terrified. I don't want to be alone."

A cold chill went down her spine as a cold realization washed over like a tidal wave.

Oh, my God. I knew Nino had felt lonely but I didn't know it was this bad. How did I not realize it before? She's had to deal with this all on her own. She's always been there for us, but we've never been for her. How did that happen without any of us realizing it?

"When Fuu-kun spoke to me I suddenly felt at peace, something I hadn't felt in a long time," Nino smiled, "I decided to open up to him and reveal why I was acting the way I was. He listened to every word without any interruption, then he simply told me that I needed to go and make up with everyone. To no longer hold a grudge against Itsuki. I think that's when I started falling for him. He didn't condemn me for all the things I said or what I did to him. He just listened and told me what I should do. From that point on I decided I was going to hold back anymore."

Ichika found herself grinning, "So that's why you confessed to him that night after the mid-terms."

Nino looked at her, startled, "How did you know that?"

"I overheard you two in the kitchen. I was gonna confess to him too but you beat me to it first."

Nino stared, then she blew out a breath, "You little sneak."

"Yeah," Ichika grinned, "I guess you were the other reason why I pulled that stunt in Kyoto. You were getting to far ahead. But... looking back at it now, I was also very happy for you. I thought you had given up on love after what happened back at Kurabara."

She saw Nino shiver, clearly trying to push away that awful memory.

"Please don't remind me of that," her sister whispered.

"Still," Ichika quickly changed the subject, "what did possessed you to confess that night? I mean, it just came out of nowhere. Besides, didn't he say before that no girl would ever confess to him?"

"He did."

"And yet you went and did it anyway," Ichika shook her head in amazement, "He must have been as shocked as I was."

"He was," Nino grinned, "It was the last thing he expected to hear. Especially from me."

"So what caused it? I'm honestly dying to know."

"You remember I wasn't going to celebrate with you guys that night?"

"Uh-huh, and he went out to get you."

"Well, the truth is, I actually went to speak to Papa."

Ichika's eyes widened, "You did? About what?"

"I told him that I was going to start living on my own from now on, that I wasn't going to keep depending on him anymore. You can imagine his response to that."

"Oh, I sure could. What happened next?"

Nino suddenly giggled like a little girl, "Well, Fuu-kun suddenly appeared on the manager's motorcycle and told me to get on because everyone was waiting. It was so strange. He just came out of nowhere, like a knight on his mighty stead coming to my rescue. Papa warned me that I was making a big mistake, but I jumped on and we rode away. I was so amazed and so touched that I couldn't help myself."

"So you confessed, huh?" Ichika made a proud smile.

"I said it during the ride back but he didn't hear me, so I said it again in the kitchen. You know the rest."

"Hmm," Ichika bobbed her head in understanding, "I think I have a better understanding now why you took it so hard that night. You made all that effort-"

"And it was all for nothing," Nino bit her lip, "All because..."

Ichika watched her closely, "Because of what?"

Nino shook her head, "Nothing."

"No, it's something," Ichika leaned closer, "Talk to me, Nino. Tell me what's eating you."

"Nothing's eating me," Nino shifted uncomfortably in her chair while keeping her gaze down.

"You're lying," Ichika pressed in, "I can tell."

"Why are you being so persistent about this?!"

"Because we're sisters, and it's our job to look out for each other," Especially now, with the way you are, "I'm only trying to help, Nino."

"I don't need any help."

"Then why do you look so sad whenever you see Fuutarou-kun?"

Nino glared at her sister.

Damn her! She didn't want to talk about this, but she knew Ichika wouldn't let up until she did.

"Alright. Fine. I'll tell you," she had to take a moment to compose herself, "Have you ever wanted something so badly? Something so simple? So natural? But every time you have an opportunity it never goes well, to the point where you just want to give up. Then suddenly you're presented with an opportunity, the greatest one you'll ever have, and you put everything into it. You do things you've never done before, changed your ways, made the greater effort, and tried to do everything right. You even prepare yourself for failure, only to discover that when you reached the goal somebody else got there well before you did and they did it by cheating. You then realize that all your efforts were all for nothing."

"Ah," Ichika seemed to understand, "So that's what you're upset about."

Nino vehemently shook her head as she fought back tears, "How is it fair? Tell me, Ichika. How was it fair? Yotsuba won because they knew each other from before. It was already decided. She knew all along who Fuu-kun was and she kept it a secret from us. Why? She had no good reason to, but she turned his life around and he fell in love with her for it. And yet, she was the only one who never actively pursued him like we did. Then again she didn't have to. He had already made his choice. She was his destiny. We might as well had told him that she was the one he met before and left it at that. It would have been easier for all of us."

"But we couldn't help it once we got to know him ourselves."

"A lot of good it did us," Nino scoffed.

"So you're mad at Yotsuba because she did all that?"

Nino clenched his fists, "I'm mad at her for a number of things. I'm mad that she did nothing but hang in the background while we made fools of ourselves. I'm mad how she only asked Itsuki for help, and I don't care what she promised! You don't keep secrets from your own family!" she was on the verge of losing control again, just like before with Yotsuba, "I'm mad at how she kept claiming that she wanted to give a fair chance when she did nothing but lie to us. And I'm mad at how she had the nerve to ask us for permission to date the very guy we liked, like she was rubbing it in that she won and we lost."

"I won't argue with you on that," Ichika agreed, "That girl really doesn't use her head sometimes."

"I think she did it on purpose," she spat, "I hate how happy she's been, without any regard to us. I know I shouldn't say this, but I hate Yotsuba for who she is. A weak, dishonest, pathetic loser who had to resort to cheating to get what she wanted. She knew Fuu-kun all along would pick her in the end. All she had to do was just stand there, be nice to him, and never give him any problems like the rest of us did and eventually he would come to her," finally she sobbed, "She took everything from me. Why do I always get the short end of the stick?"

The tears were flowing freely now and her face fell into her hands.

"You really loved him that much?" she heard Ichika slowly say.

"Yeah... yeah I did. I just wanted what we all did. A chance to be his girlfriend, but we never had that chance," Nino sniffed several times, "I even had this stupid dream one time that I was standing outside our apartment waiting for him to pick me up our first date. Then all of a sudden he comes riding up on his brand new bike, looking all cool and badass, and he would ask me if I would like to go for a ride. We would then go wherever we wanted without a care in the world. Stupid, huh?"

"Yeah, but still romantic. Cheer up, Nino. It won't be like this forever," Ichika tried to encourage her, "I'll sure you find another guy in the future."

Nino slowly shook her head and lifted her face, "That's what I keep trying to tell myself, but the truth is I don't think I will. No matter where I look, no matter how hard I try, even if I did meet someone, it wouldn't be Fuu-kun. He wasn't just some guy I fell in love with. He was the one. He was my prince. I really believed that I finally found someone who could love me for who I am, but now he's gone. Taken away by a traitor. I'll never be able to look at Yotsuba the same way again. Then again, maybe this is what I deserve for being so mean to Fuu-kun in the beginning."

Ichika stared at Nino, recalling the earlier story when Nino had found Fuutarou standing outside her apartment. Now it seemed that the roles had been reversed. Nino was now the one who looked like she had lost everything, only this time she really had. She had given all her hopes and dreams to Fuutarou only for them to be stolen from her.

She now understood the real reason why Nino was so angry with Yotsuba. She really had taken everything from her. Without even trying. Nino had nothing left, nothing to live for. Even though she now understood, they had to respect Fuutarou's decision. However...

"Have you considered talking to them about this?" she asked carefully.

"No, and I'm not going to," Nino replied immediately.

"Why not?"

"Because I'll just end up causing trouble if I do. If he's happy with her then it's not my place to argue. I'll just have to accept it and move on. I can forgive him, but I don't think I can ever forgive Yotsuba. I helped her when she needed me the most and she betrayed me, but I also told Yotsuba I would support her no matter what happens. I won't go back on that. That would just be me going back to where I started before I met Fuu-kun. I don't want him to see me like that anymore. I caused him enough problems, I'm not going to throw away everything he did for me. All I want... is for him to be happy."

Those words confirmed Ichika's worst fears. Nino wasn't taking this badly.

She was suffering.

"So..." she started to say, "for the sake of him being happy you will sacrifice-"

"Don't!"

The shout made her jump. She couldn't have acted that out even if she tried.

"Just... don't," Nino said again, this time a lot calmer, "I don't want to start thinking that way. It'll just make me feel worse."

She looked like she was on the verge of breaking down completely.

"Then what can I do to help?"

Nino shook her head, "There's nothing you can do. This is something I have to deal with on my own. I don't want you guys getting mixed up in my problems," Nino picked up her bag, "I better get going. You should too, Ichika. I'll see you at dinner tonight."

Ichika watched her go. She had never seen anyone who looked so battered and defeated.

"This is bad," she whispered, "This is really bad."