Fuutarou 3

Fuutarou grabs Yotsuba by the ribbon.

"Absolutely not! Sunday is your rest day. You said you want to go out with me in the evening, so that means you need to spend the morning with your sisters. You have barely had the chance to spend time with them lately."

"Aw," Yotsuba whines. "I guess I'll go to the stupid brunch thing, but only if you go with me."

"I guess that's fine, but no PDA in front of your sisters. And you'd better focus on talking to them and not me."

"Ugh. Fiiiiine."

—-

On Sunday, Yotsuba drags Fuutarou to brunch with the quintuplets, organized by Ichika. Since both Yotsuba and Fuutarou are early risers and tend to be anxious, they arrive well before the others. Itsuki and Miku arrive together, followed by Ichika who arrives separately since she is coming from her own apartment. Fuutarou notices Nino isn't with them.

Nino enters the restaurant fashionably late. She appears to be attached to the arm of someone.

What the hell.

The guy is nearly a head taller than Fuutarou, and much more muscular, with a dark soul patch on his chin and tattoos peeking out from the sleeves and collar of his shirt. It appears that Nino didn't inform her guest that this restaurant is on the classier side, because he is wearing a plain t-shirt, ragged jeans, and boots.

"Yotsuba who is that guy?" Fuutarou hisses.

"Maybe Nino hired a bodyguard?" Yotsuba taps her chin quizzically.

"If he was a bodyguard, would she be pressing her boobs into his arm like that and dragging him around?"

Yotsuba whips her head toward Fuutarou, as if she just realized. "Could that be…her boyfriend?"

The tall guy approaches the table, and Fuutarou is nervous to see that the guy's focus turns right toward him.

"My name is Bo, and I'm Miss Nino's boyfriend." He extends a hand toward Fuutarou for a handshake. "You must be Mr. Nakano, her father."

Did he say father?

"Um, actually I'm the same age. I'm the girls' tutor."

"Oh you tutor Miss Nino? Well thank you for helping her with her grades. School is important." He squeezes Fuutarou's hand and continues shaking it, while flashing him a smile.

This guy is strange.

"And the rest of you ladies must be Miss Nino's friends. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"We're her sisters," says Itsuki.

"You guys are all sisters?! No way, that's crazy." Bo looks genuinely surprised to learn that these identical girls are related.

"I told you I was a quintuplet, didn't I?" Nino asks.

"Oh yeah, right." Bo scratches the back of his head nervously.

Let me guess. He doesn't know what 'quintuplet' means.

The group orders food and begins chatting. The conversation mostly consists of Ichika asking Bo questions.

These seem like leading questions. Like she wants us to like him. What are you playing at, Ichika?

Nino has been strangely silent. Although she keeps pressing herself closer and closer to Bo as the conversation goes on.

Fuutarou feels a hand grab his under the table. He glances at Yotsuba.

She's probably bored.

Fuutarou looks up and makes eye contact with Nino. Nino glares at the space between Fuutarou and Yotsuba.

It seems like she can tell we are holding hands under the table.

Nino makes eye contact with Fuutarou again, and smirks.

She turns toward Bo, who is in the middle of chatting with Ichika.

"You have something on your face, dear." Nino raises up and licks the side of Bo's mouth. She pauses as if considering, then she gives up all pretense and kisses him on the mouth. He looks surprised, and she responds by forcing her tongue in his mouth.

Itsuki slaps Nino's shoulder and pulls her down into her seat. "Nino, what are you doing? We are in public."

"Did you get it? Is it gone?" Bo seems to be unaware that Nino was trying to do anything other than clean his face.

"I got it, don't worry," Nino says. She locks eyes with Fuutarou and smirks.

Okay, I see how it is. Using this guy to try to make me jealous. These girls are such a pain in the ass.

"Well I think it's actually Nakano sisters that recently got a boyfriend," Ichika says. "Miku has been talking to a boy online nonstop."

Miku covers her face with her hands. "Stop saying that. He's just someone that I play games with online. Stop trying to make it weird."

"Well judging by how red your face is right now, I think there's more to it than that."

"Oh you like video games?" Bo asks Miku. "I like Fortnite."

Miku glares at him through her bangs, as if he just said the most insulting blasphemy imaginable.

"Oh you don't play Fortnite? You should try it." Bo smiles at Miku, as if he just made a new friend. She glares blankly back at him.

Did Nino surgically remove this guy's brain?

-

"Uesugi-saaaan! Let's go!" Yotsuba waves from up the sidewalk. She is dressed for a date. She is wearing green Converse with a simple v-neck white shirt and tight-fitting plaid pants. With her trusty green ribbon of course.

Her butt looks really good in those pants. I wonder if she would like it if I told her that. No, it would probably sound creepy. Or she might just laugh.

"I thought you were going to start calling me by my first name?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," Yotsuba says. "It's just habit."

"Call me whatever, I don't mind. Just please don't call me 'Fuu-kun.'"

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it. I don't want Nino to poison me."

Yotsuba takes Fuutarou's hand.

"I'm really happy that Miku and Nino have found someone," she says.

"It is good. Maybe too good to be true."

"What do you mean?" She asks.

"It's just hard to believe that both of them found someone within a week of the festival thing. Life isn't like a harem manga where the side girls all find happiness right away after the protagonist picks the main girl. Everyone doesn't live happily ever after. Especially not this fast."

"Well maybe they just got lucky," Yotsuba says.

"If Miku has been gaming with that guy for a long time, and she decided to start video chatting with him recently, that sounds believable. Maybe it's legit. But Nino is up to something. I'm pretty sure she is just using that guy to try to make me jealous."

"Are you?" Yotsuba gives him a teasing grin.

"Not in a million years. I feel bad for the guy."

"Well I think he seems nice."

"Yeah true. And he's dumber than a rock. He's as dumb as you and your sisters put together."

"That's not possible. Brains can't get that small."

Fuutarou chuckles.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" He asks.

"First we're going for a jog." Ugh. "Then we are picking up Raiha and taking her to a movie, then we are bringing dinner back to your place. Then on the way home maybe we can stop at the park and see if they fixed your swing yet."

Fuutarou squeezes her hand. "Sounds fun. Except for the exercising part."

"It won't kill you!" Yotsuba slaps him on the back and grins.

"Don't be so sure. You underestimate how much of a nerd I am."

"Hehe. Don't worry, silly. I'll be there. If you get too tired, I'll just carry you. Princess carry!"

That would be embarrassing. But also I think I might enjoy it.