Chapter 3
'I will need this too for the school camp.', thought Fuutarou while putting a new toothbrush in the basket. It was Thursday, and since the next day he had to leave for the school camp on the mountains, the young man was at the supermarket at the moment to buy some things he would need for the camp.
He had cancelled the tutoring session to let the quints prepare themselves as well, since he didn't see necessary making them study before the imminent school camp. Though, while he was choosing a shampoo to buy, his thoughts were often about a certain butterfly ribbons girl and made him blush.
He was in fact still surprised and flustered due to Nino's invitation to dance with her, to which he had not given an answer yet. He liked the fact that he and she became friends, but he didn't expect her to get interested in him in the other way so soon.
'She didn't confess to me, but I doubt that a girl invites a boy to dance with her at something like a bonfire because he's her friend. Dad told me that I should accept he invitation right away, but I'm not sure about how Maruo-San would take it; he made clear that I have to keep a tutor-student relationship with each quint, after all. Still, I don't want to make Nino sad by rejecting her.', he thought, frowning in annoyance due to the situation.
But while he was thinking about that, his phone suddenly rang and made him answer to the call, hearing something that made him very worried. He quickly finished to buy the last things he needed before paying at the counter and leaving as fast as he could to go home.
The supermarket wasn't too far away from his house, so he ran for about 5 minutes before arriving at home and entering inside immediately.
"Raiha, are you okay?!", he asked, extremely worried.
"O-Onii-chan, I-I'm here.", replied the young girl from near the table, laying down inside a futon with a towel on her forehead. The boy quickly walked towards her and touched her forehead, grimacing when he felt how hot it was.
"You have a bad fever, I will send a text to Dad to ask him to buy a medicine and some takoyaki for dinner.", said Fuutarou, writing a message on his phone and sending it to Isanari.
"I-I'm sorry, Onii-chan. I didn't want to make you so worried before your school camp."
"Silly, you don't need to apologize. You're my dear little sister, so it's my duty to make sure that you're fine.", he told her, smiling and caressing her head.
"Then, could you change my towel and do my homework, please? Due to the fever, I couldn't do some of my homework."
"No problem, leave it to your big brother.", he replied, taking her towel to change it with another one and sitting to the table to do her homework.
"Onii-chan, did you give an answer to Nino-San? You know that it's not good making a girl wait too much.", she asked him out of curiosity.
"A-ah, about that, let's say that I will g-give her an answer tomorrow probably. I-I still have some doubts because it's the first time that a g-girl showed to be interested in me in that way and a-also because her father could fire me if he knew that I crossed the tutor-student line with one of his daughters.", he told her, blushing and touching his bangs in embarrassment.
"I don't think that you need to worry too much. Dad and the quints' father are friends, so he won't be angry if you become Nino-San's boyfriend hehe.", told him Raiha, giggling.
The idea of becoming the social butterfly's boyfriend made Fuutarou blush embarassed, bringing him to hide his face with a hand. "Y-you like embarrassing me, huh? Anyways, I w-wil give her an answer soon, and stay assured t-that I won't tell her no.", he said, scratching the back of his head.
Raiha smiled happily for this before falling asleep due to the fever, getting a headpat from Fuutarou. It was also the moment in which Isanari entered in the house and got stopped by his son from screaming in worry for Raiha.
"She's sleeping, don't shout, Dad.", told him Fuutarou to reprimand him.
"Haha, sorry, son. When you told me taht she was sick, I was very worried. Here the medicine and the takoyaki you asked me to buy. I bought some for Raiha too, but I guess she can eat them tomorrow.", replied the grinning blond man, getting thanked by Fuutarou.
The top student made Raiha the medicine then and suggested to sleep in order to recover faster whil Isanari prepared the table for him and Fuutarou. Father and son then sat down and started to eat the takoyaki, with the blond man asking his son, "So you're going to the school camp tomorrow, huh? Did you take a decision about Maruo's daughter's invitation?"
"Y-yeah, I decided that I w-will dance with her. I don't really believe in that bonfire dance legend, but I d-don't want to make Nino sad after I finally managed to become her friend.", answered the boy, blushing.
"Haha, you took a wonderful decision, son! To be honest, I thought that Itsuki-chan was going to be your girlfriend."
"She didn't show that type of interest in me compared to Nino. About the other 3, one of them a-asked me what type of girls I liked and the other 2 were i-interested to know it too.", said the young man, making Isanari grin.
"You became pretty popular with girls, eh? Though, since Nino-chan is the only one that asked you to dance with her, I'm glad that you're going to accept her invitation. You like her, don't you?"
Fuutarou blushed and frowned in annoyance, "D-dad, stop it. She and I became friends not long ago, I can't l-like her right away."
"You say so, but I'm sure you like her just like she does with you haha.", said the blond man, chuckling at his son's expenses.
They continued to eat the takoyaki by chatting like this until they finished them, and Fuutarou carried Raiha on his shoulders to bring to their room and to put her in her futon. In this way, he noticed something on the small desk that he used to study and saw that it was a blueish handmade bracelet with a piece of paper next to it .
"It's a good luck charm that I made for you at school, Onii-chan. It will make sure that nothing bad happens to you and that you will have a fantastic experience at the school camp!", was what was written on the piece of paper, which made Fuutarou look at his sister and smile.
He was truly glad to have such a caring sister like her, and that was why he got closer to her to give her a headpat that made her smile in her sleep. After that, he prepared his little luggage for the camp with the last things he needed and went to take a shower before going to bed. The buses would leave very soon the next day, so he needed to go to sleep earlier than usual.
The following morning, Fuutarou got woken up by Raiha, who seemed to have recovered completely by her fever and made him a little breakfast. The boy told her to not strive too much, but she assured him that she was totally fine thanks to him and their father.
So the young man ate the little breakfast made by Raiha and was ready to greet her and his father before leaving until someone knocked on the door from outside. He went to check who it was and got stunned to see Itsuki, who seemed to be a little embarassed.
"I-Itsuki? Good morning. W-why are you here?", he asked her while greeting her.
"G-good morning, Uesugi-kun. I'm here because my sisters and I will be accompanied by Ebata to the camp, and Nino wants that you come with us.", she replied, making him blush at the mention of the social butterfly while Isanari and Raiha chuckled.
"Haha, take him with you and your sisters, Itsuki-chan. My son will be glad to go together with you 5 to the camp.", said the blond man, making Fuutarou more embarrassed.
"Dad, stop it.", said the boy, frowning.
"Have fun during the camp, Onii-chan, Itsuki-San! I look forward to hear about the amazing memories you will make!", said instead a giggling Raiha, waving like Isanari did to the two teenagers that greeted them back.
Fuutarou and Itsuki went downstairs and he saw the other 4 quints near the limousine, blushing when his eyes met Nino's, who smiled and blushed as well. "Y-yo, girls. Thank you for wanting to bring me together with you to the camp.", he said, scratching the back of his head.
"Fufu, you're welcome, Fuutarou-kun. Nino wanted to make sure that you came with us at all costs, after all.", said Ichika, teasing him and making her sister blush more and frown.
"S-shut up, Ichika!", exclaimed the second oldest quint, scowling while Ichika giggled.
"I-I see, then let's go, girls?", asked the boy to avoid that they argued, getting a nod from each quint. They got all together in the car then, with Nino and Yotsuba sitting next to him while Ebata turned on the engine and started to drive.
'S-so Nino really wanted that I came to the camp, huh? Plus, she sat down next to me immediately when I took place here in the car; she likes me more than I thought.', thought the young man, blushing. Despite having decided to dance with her, he was flustered for having Nino so close to him, but he couldn't negate that he liked sitting next to her.
He also had fun while playing Uno with the quints during the way, chuckling at Yotsuba's expenses whenever he blocked her turns with the "Block turn" cards. Nino played like him against the other quints, as if they both had wicked minds.
'They're really evil.', thought her sisters, sweatdropping at how Nino and Fuutarou chuckled at their expenses. Though, Miku and Ichika pouted after they finished to play when they saw that their sister felt asleep with her head on the boy's shoulder, who blushed but let her sleep anyways.
'N-Nino and Uesugi-kun got way closer than I thought. Maybe t-they like each other more than as simple friends?', thought the youngest quint, blushing upon looking at her sister and the young tutor. Obviously, she and the others didn't know that Nino had invited Fuutarou to dance together at the bonfire, as the girl didn't tell them about it.
Speaking of her, the social butterfly was blushing and smiling while sleeping on Fuutarou's shouder; it seemed that the boy didn't mind it, and that made her very happy.
'Fuutarou, I can't wait to hear your answer to my invitation.', she thought, enjoying sleeping on his shoulder and getting a little headpat from him. She liked that gesture so much that she wanted to be the only one to receive it.
An hour or more later, due to the traffic caused by the amount of snow on the road, Ebata decided to accompany the quints and Fuutarou to an hotel not far from the place where the school camp would take place. Though, as the hotel didn't have a lot of free rooms, the six teenagers had to share a room all together.
The young tutor wanted to ask for a room just for him, but the quints, despite being flushed, assured him that they didn't mind sharing a room with him. They knew he wasn't a bad person, so they trusted him. Sighing, he agreed to share a room with them, but he told them, blushing, that he wanted to take a bath in the hot springs alone.
The quints blushed at knowing that there were mixed baths and nodded, trying to not imagine bathing together with the boy. Even if Nino had some trouble with that, as the moments in which she and Fuutarou almost saw each other naked came to her mind.
'S-stop it! H-he will think I'm a pervert if he knows that I imagined joining him-Nooo!', she thought, blushing and shaking her head to get rid of the naughty thoughts she had about Fuutarou. Thankfully, he and her sisters didn't notice her expression, so she saved herself from a very embarrassing situation.
Since they had lunch during the way with some sandwiches prepared by Ebata, who greeted them before leaving to go back to Tokai, the tutor and his students entered inside their room and admired how nice it was, liking also the view they had on the landscape outside from the window.
"The snow storm seems to not have calmed down outside. Do you want to play cards, girls? We can play something different from Uno, of course.", proposed the boy, taking out his cards from his rucksack.
"We can play Fanfare then!", replied a cheerful Yotsuba, getting a nod from each one of her sisters.
The group started then to play, and like it happened inside the limousine, the golden eyes boy and the social butterfly had fun while playing some cunning moves against their opponents. "I understand why you two get along so much; you are both wicked when it comes to games.", said Itsuki, crying comically and pouting after Fuutarou played an effective move against her.
Her statement made both him and her sister blush, which made the other quints raise an eyebrow. "Why are you both flushed?", asked them Yotsuba.
"I-it must be too hot here inside, I-I will check the temperature later.", replied the young man, hiding his face with a hand.
"Y-Yeah, it must be that.", said Nino in agreement and touching a length of her hair. Their replies managed to convince Yotsuba somehow, who didn't try to ask more about their expressions. The other 3 quints were still doubtful instead, especially Ichika and Miku that pouted in jealousy towards Nino.
'It can't be… They started to like each other already?', they thought, stunned by how their sister and Fuutarou got even closer to each other. And they weren't wrong about it at all.
The group continued to play for some hours until it was late afternoon, so they decided to cook for dinner thanks to the little kitchen they had in the room. While Fuutarou, Yotsuba and Itsuki would prepare the table, Nino and Miku would cook instead. Ichika tried to be lazy by taking a nap, but the young man told her that if she didn't help, she wouldn't eat, making her pout while her sisters giggled.
Nino and Miku took an hour to cook, after which they joined their sisters and Fuutarou to have dinner. The boy liked how good the food was, eating everything eagerly and praising the two cooks. Both of them blushed and smiled for that, even if Nino frowned a bit because she wanted to be the only one to be praised by him.
Their dinner was full of chatters until they finished to eat and cleaned the table before washing the dishes. Fuutarou also noticed how the weather calmed down outside, which gave him a chance to take a bath in the hot spring of the hotel.
'Perfect, a nice bath will be good before going to sleep.', he thought, taking out a towel from his luggage and the yukata offered by the hotel before leaving the room.
"Ara, Fuutarou-kun decided to take a bath in the hot spring. We should go too, girls.", suggested Ichika to her sisters.
"I agree, the hot water will be very relaxing before going to sleep.", said Miku, getting a nod of agreement from the others.
So they took their towels and yukatas and went towards the women's bath, taking off their clothes to put them in the apposite baskets and entering inside the hot water.
"Aww, this water is really good for my body. I feel like my body is relaxing more than I expected.", said Itsuki with a smile.
"Hehe, I agree. Now I see why Uesugi-San went immediately to take a bath after he saw that the weather calmed down.", said Yotsuba, giggling.
"Speaking of him, who will sleep next to him? The room is tight for 6 people, so one of-"
"I will sleep next to Fuutarou.", said Nino, cutting Ichika off and making all her sisters stunned.
"Y-you want to sleep next to him? Why, Nino?", asked her Itsuki.
"What's wrong with that? F-Fuutarou and I are friends, so I guess that I can sleep next to him.", replied the social butterfly, blushing.
"Are we sure that you don't want to do something naughty with him?", teased her Ichika, hiding her jealousy.
"Huh?! W-what do you take me for?! I'm not a pervert and I told you t-that he and I are friends!"
Ichika giggled and said that she was just teasing her, getting scolded by Itsuki anyways for talking about something so shameless. On the other hand, Nino frowned in annoyance, but she was glad that she would sleep next to Fuutarou. She wouldn't stand the idea of one of her sisters sleeping next to the boy that she felt a connection with.
Unbeknownst to them, said boy was listening to their conversation due to the men's bath being next to the women's one and he blushed; he didn't expect Nino to say so eagerly that she wanted to sleep next to him. He even imagined that she would cuddle with him, which made him more flustered.
Once he was done with the bath, the young man got out of the water, dried himself and put on the yukata before preparing the futons for him and his students and going to sleep in his. Some minutes later, the quints finished to take a bath too and they went to sleep in their respective futons.
Just like she wanted, Nino laid down in the futon next to Fuutarou's, but instead of starting to sleep immediately, she looked at his sleeping face and smiled before giving him a little kiss on the cheek as goodnight kiss. She then closed her eyes and started to sleep, clinging unconsciously on his arm.
The next morning, Itsuki woke up earlier than everyone and blushed at seeing Nino cuddling with Fuutarou. She didn't expect her sister to get that affectionate to him after becoming his friend not long ago, but she couldn't say that they looked very cute.
She then heard some footsteps from outside and got out of the room to check who it was, finding out that it was the teachers of their school and that they, along other classes, stayed at the same hotel due to the snow storm of the day before as well.
'Now I see why almost all the hotel rooms were taken; I should wake up Uesugi-kun and my sisters to have breakfast and to start the activities of the camp.', she thought, going back to her room and calling everyone to wake them up.
"Ok, I'm awake, Itsuki.", said in unison her sisters and Fuutarou, whose eyes widened when he woke up and saw that Nino slept very close to him.
'D-did she really sleep next to me? It happened with Miku too, but she had forgotten that I was sleeping in her room at that time. So Nino slept next to me willingly…Oh boy.', he thought, blushing while getting up like a bolt to take some clothes from his luggage and going to the toilet to change.
"Hehe, Fuutarou-kun must be flustered because you slept next to him, Nino.", said a giggling Ichika, making the social butterfly blush.
"W-well, it's obvious; any boy would b-blush if a beautiful girl slept next to him.", replied Nino, blushing and smiling nervously.
"W-We should change too, girls. The teachers and the other classes are staying at this hotel too, so they're having already breakfast.", suddenly said Itsuki, managing to change the subject and getting a look of surprise and a nod from each one of her sisters.
So they took off their yukatas and took some clothes from their luggages, with each one wearing a different outfit from the other. When they finished to change, it was also the moment that Fuutarou got out of the toilet and surprised them due to the black leather jacket, the white t-shirt under it and the pair of jeans he was wearing.
"W-wow, you look amazing, Uesugi-San! When did you buy those clothes?", asked him Yotsuba, blushing for how good he looked. Nino was flushed because he looked very handsome to her eyes.
"D-Dad bought me these clothes to me the day before we left Tokai to come here. He said that they are a reward for c-caring so much for you dummies. Thank you, by the way.", he replied, scratching his red cheek.
"Mouu, you should stop calling us dummies. That's rude.", told him Itsuki, pouting.
"I will stop when you manage to score 70 points or more on your tests haha.", he replied, grinning and making each quint pout or giggle. After chuckling together for a bit, they left their room and went towards the hotel's cafeteria to have breakfast, where a lot of students and teachers were already eating.
Some male students frowned at the sight of Fuutarou being accompanied by the quints, whispering some bad things about him between them. Nino noticed that and glared at them with darker blue eyes.
'What the hell is you assholes' problem?! Can't you mind your businesses instead of badmouthing Fuutarou? He's a ten times better person than you envious idiots!', she thought, tempted to go to slap the guys that spouted rubbish about her tutor. Thankfully, she calmed down when said tutor touched her shoulder and asked her if she was ok, since he noticed her angry expression.
"I-I'm fine, Fuutarou. I j-just heard some annoying whispers about you, me and my sisters from some idiots.", she said, blushing and frowning.
"Is that so? How about we scare them for good tonight during the test of courage then?", he asked her, smirking.
She smirked as well, "That's a great idea. We will make sure to make them regret badmouthing you."
"Hmm? What are you two talking about?", asked them Miku.
"Nothing of important.", replied in unison the young man and her sister, smiling and making the headphones girl pout.
The six students took then their breakfast trays and started to eat together, talking about the activities that they could do. Since they had a vast choice, they decided to visit some temples first and a nearby historical museum. There was also skiing as activity, but they preferred doing the next day.
So after finishing to have breakfast, the six of them left the hotel to go to visit the temples first, where they took a lot of photos and selfies together. Though, Nino took more selfies alone with Fuutarou, smiling happily.
'I like taking photos together my sisters, but I want to take more alone with Fuutarou.', she thought, giggling at seeing the nervous smile of the boy in the photos.
Once they finished their visit at the temples, they went towards the historical museum, the place Miku wanted to visit the most. Unfortunately, it wasn't allowed to take photos of the artifacts, but they didn't complain about it and simply admired them.
They didn't even need a guide because Miku and Fuutarou were good enough to explain every detail regarding each artifact, even if the only ones who seemed interested to listen were Yotsuba and Itsuki. "Miku, Fuutarou-kun, you two really like history, eh?", asked them a giggling Ichika.
"Knowing about the past events can be pretty interesting. You can find out things that can leave you stunned.", they said in unison, looking at each other and chuckling along her sisters.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go to look at the souvenirs now.", said Nino, pouting and taking Fuutarou's hand to go with him towards the souvenir shop.
Her sisters were as surprised as the boy, who blushed like the social butterfly due to the handholding. "I-Is it me or Nino seemed jealous?", asked Yotsuba to her sisters.
"You aren't wrong, Yotsuba-chan. She looked to not have liked how chummy Fuutarou-kun and Miku were with each other hehe.", replied Ichika while the headphones girl blushed.
" S-she definitely likes him more than a friend.", said Itsuki, blushing as well.
The other 3 quints nodded in agreement, especially because they saw from the distance how the butterfly ribbons girl was trying some glasses and asked Fuutarou for his opinion, blushing at hearing his compliment. Ichika and Miku were once again jealous of her, with Yotsuba being it a bit too but also glad for her older sister.
An hour later, the group returned to the hotel to have lunch and to discuss about what to do during the cooking activity of the afternoon, as every class and the teachers would have dinner with curry. Since the boys had to take care of the rice, Fuutarou would do that while the quints would prepare the curry sauce together the other girls.
Itsuki looked forward to eat curry for the dinner, despite she was still eating what she took for lunch. Smirking, Fuutarou stole her, without that she noticed, the pastry that she took as dessert. He laughed at her expenses when she saw that her dessert disappeared and was being eaten by him.
"Y-you're a food thief, Uesugi-kun!", she told him, pouting while her sisters giggled.
"Relax, it was just a little prank haha.", he said, laughing and eating the pastry.
"You don't need to get too angry about it Itsuki.", told her Yotsuba, patting her shoulder.
They continued to eat like this until lunch time didn't end, after which they which they went back to their room to rest a bit and to check out their souvenirs before the start of the cooking activity. Fuutarou had bought some postcards for Raiha and his father while the quints bought different things.
The young man glanced also at Nino; he still had to give her an answer to her invitation to dance together, but he would do it when he and she would be alone during the test of courage . He wasn't sure how his relationship with her would change after that, but he looked forward to dance with her anyways.
Some hours passed then, so the group joined all the other students and the teachers outside to prepare the curry for everyone. The young tutor started to check out the rice, until a certain brown haired boy approached him. "Yo, Uesugi. How is it going?", greeted him the boy.
"Maeda? I'm fine, thanks. You seem to be in a good mood.", replied Fuutarou with a monotone tone.
"Let's say that I managed to find a girl to dance with at the bonfire. Thanks to your advice, I was able to invite Matsui from my class and I will dance with her haha.", said Maeda, grinning and making the young tutor smile too.
"I see, I'm glad fo you two then."
"What about you instead? Are you going to dance with Ichika-San or her sister?", asked him Maeda, making Fuutarou blush.
"A-about that, I g-got invited by their butterfly ribbons sister over there and I will give her my answer tonight. Just so you know, I-I don't believe in that childish bonfire legend, but I will dance with her anyways.", replied the young man, embarassed while pointing with his gaze at Nino.
"Oho, so Ichika-San's sister likes you, huh? Well done, Uesugi!", teased him Maeda, making him frown in annoyance. The boys around them overheard them and felt very envious of Fuutarou, as they wanted the chance to dance with a beautiful girls too.
In the girls' group, Nino was giving instructions to everyone on how to make the curry sauce, even if Itsuki was too focused on using the timer and Miku put some strange ingredients in another curry sauce. Yotsuba was helping to check the temperature of the fire while Ichika was taking a nap.
The social butterfly glanced sometimes towards the boys' group, specifically at Fuutarou. She still didn't get an answer to her invitation, but she had the feeling that he would give her one once the two of them would be alone.
'I don't think that he will say no, he's been very conscious of me, after all. Hehe, the bonfire dance of tomorrow will be something of wonderful.', she thought, smiling and blushing while looking at the boy, without being noticed by her sisters and the other girls.
An hour and half later, the curry for everyone was ready and each student and teacher started to eat. During this, Nino and Fuutarou got called by his homeroom teacher that told them when the test of courage would start, so the two talked about how to organize it while eating together.
At this point, Nino's friends and other people were totally convinced that she and Fuutarou were a couple, as they saw them together often. Some of them knew also how protective she was of the boy, which fueled more their supposition. The other quints looked at her and the young tutor with different expressions, with the jealous ones of Ichika and Miku being the most noticeable.
'I don't have anything against Nino and U-Uesugi-kun becoming a couple, but I'm not sure if Father will accept it.', thought Itsuki instead, worried that Maruo could fire Fuutarou for crossing the tutor-student line. She hoped that it wouldn't happen, as Fuutarou's job wasn't just to help her and her sisters but his family too.
On the other hand, Yotsuba was happy for Nino and Fuutarou, as she wouldn't be against the idea of them being a couple. Still, she felt a bit jealous and sad too.
'I guess that I can't do nothing about it; if Fuutarou-kun likes Nino, I can't tell him that I'm the girl he met in Kyoto years ago and hope that he starts to like me like I did and still do for him. While I failed to fulfill our promise, he did his best and became a great student to help his family. Even if c-can't be his girlfriend, I will continue to support him as always.', she thought, smiling sadly for a moment but brighter after promising herself to do her best to support Fuutarou.
She also decided that one day she would tell him who she was exactly in order to reunite with as childhood friends properly. Even if he wasn't going to reciprocate her feelings, he would remain very important for her anyways. Just like he had always been since she met him.
Once dinner time ended, the social butterfly and her tutor went to prepare for the test of courage that would start in 20 minutes. So they went to change themselves with their costumes in some toilets away from everyone, and after they were done, Fuutarou was amazed by Nino's costume as vampire. She had a white shirt and a long blood red skirt that suited her figure perfectly while a black cap felt down from her behind her neck and fake fangs were visible inside her mouth.
"Hmm? W-why are you staring at me that much?", she asked him, blushing.
"A-ah, I-It's just that you look very good with that costume.", he replied, scratching the back of his head.
She blushed more at that reply and smiled. "Thank you, Fuutarou. Let's go to scare some people!", she said, taking his hand.
He grinned at her behind his clown mask. "Haha, they will have nightmares after this.", he said, holding her hand while walking inside the woods.
They hid behind some bushes then and proceeded to scare the incoming students after the start of the test by screaming things like "I will suck all your blood!" or "I'm your worst nightmare!". Both of them laughed at how the students were so scared and ran away in fear, especially when it happened with the idiots that badmouthed Fuutarou.
They scared also Yotsuba and Itsuki that ran away immediately, going back for the way they came from thankfully. There was in fact a dangerous cliff not far away from the woods, so Nino and Fuutarou were glad that no one didn't leave the right pathway.
When they saw other two people coming, they came out from the bushes together and said in unison, "Your worst nightmare is here!"
"Oh, it's Nino and Fuutarou-kun.", said Ichika, accompanied by an inexpressive Miku while pointing the torch the duo.
Fuutarou clicked his tongue, "Tch, another duo that knew everything, but that didn't get scared."
"Aaah! I'm so scared hehe.", said Ichika to joke, getting a deadpanned "Don't fake it" from Fuutarou.
"It's not funny when our targets don't get scared.", said Nino, agreeing with him and crossing her arms.
"Don't be upset, you two. You scared a lot of students from the screams I heard, after all. Did you dye your hair by the way, Fuutarou-kun? You look very good with blond hair.", said Ichika, looking at him after he took off his mask.
"It's just a wig, but thank you. Stay on the pathway and follow the indications on the trees to get out of here, ok?", he said, getting a smile and a nod from Ichika.
He noticed that Miku seemed distracted, so he put a hand on her head that made her blush while Nino frowned. "Miku, are you ok?", he asked her in worry.
"Y-y-yes, I-I'm ok and I understood what y-you said. T-thank you, Fuutarou.", she replied, blushing more and nodding.
"That's good, see you later then.", he said, smiling while waving at them like Nino did, even if she had a scowl on her face.
Now that they were alone and it looked that no one else was going to appear, the young man took a little breath and said, "Nino, I-I want to talk about your invitation."
"Ehh? Y-you took a decision about it then?", she asked him, changing her scowl with a blushing face.
"Y-yeah, after reflecting about it, I decided that I will d-dance with you tomorrow.", he replied, a little flustered.
Upon receiving such reply, a blissful smile appeared on Nino's face accompanied by a bigger blush and she suddenly enveloped the boy in a hug with her face on his chest that surprised him.
"N-Nino?"
"Y-you've just made me really happy, Fuutarou. I know that it can sound absurd, but since you told me about your past, that you trust me and that you felt a connection with me, I d-developed some feelings for you. It's true that you and I started to get along better not long ago, b-but I can't help it; I get jealous when y-you're too nice with my sisters and hate it when some people say bad things about you.", she told him, making him blush more while she hugged him tighter.
She then lifted her face to look at him in the eyes with her ocean blue ones while the moonlight was over them. "I love you, Fuutarou.", she told him, blushing and smiling at him.
'W-wow, so it was true; Nino really likes me more than a friend. I didn't expect her to develop such feelings for me so soon, but I can't say that I'm not happy. This is the first time that a girl confesses to me, after all. I don't know what will happen after this, but I will deal with it.', he thought, swallowing and suddenly kissing Nino's lips, catching her by surprise and making her moan.
'H-he's kissing me?! S-so he reciprocates my feelings? Hehe, first he decides to dance with me at the bonfire and then this…You and I are made for each other, Fuutarou.', she thought, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back happily.
The fact that the boy that she trusted like he did with her and that became very important for her loved her made her truly glad, and she couldn't wait to dance with him the next day. She was also glad that that she and Fuutarou made the idiots that insulted him by scaring them, but she also promised herself that she wouldn't allow anyone to hurt the boy. Just like she was when it came to her sisters, she would be very protective of her Fuutarou too.
A/N
And here we go with a long chapter 3! Phew, it took a while, but here is it haha! I'm glad that you're liking this story, everyone, and as you can read in this new chapter, a lot of things happened.
Fuutarou managed to make Raiha recover soon and took a decision about dancing with Nino at the bonfire, telling her about it after the nice moments spent with her and her sisters during this first day of school camp. Her sisters saw that she and he are more than just friends between each other, but Ichika and Miku couldn't help but get jealous.
Yotsuba understood that Fuutarou started to like Nino, so she decided that she will reveal her true identity to him but keeping to support him, since he's very dear to her. Itsuki is worried that Maruo could fire Fuutarou if he found out that the boy crossed the line with Nino, which just happened after Fuutarou kissed the social butterfly, who kissed him back happily.
Her interest really didn't take too much time in evolving in a strong love for the boy, and now that she saw that he likes her too, she will be more protective of him while looking forward to dance with him. What will happen next? Stay tuned to find out.
See ya!