Disclaimer: I don't own Quintessential Quintuplets.

To Become A Sixth of Six

Chapter One: In The Beginning

"Yakiniku set. Without the Yakiniku."

"Here it is."

The cafeteria worker handed a tray across the counter to the young man, who took it from her hands and nodded curtly as a way of saying thank you. Once again ignoring the looks he got from the students around him Fuutaro collected his tray.

"What's with that guy?"

'People tend to think the cheapest item on the menu is rice for two hundred yen, but it's not. If you order the Yakiniku set for four hundred yen without the Yakiniku for two hundred yen you could for the same price get miso soup and fresh fruit as dessert! The School Canteen is the best!'

"Oy, hurry up!"

Fuutaro's head was pulled out of his thoughts, the sharp voice caught his attention and he turned his head slightly to the student in the queue behind him, "Ah, my bad." He turned away from the counter finally and started his way through the cafeteria. Several tables were spread out across the room and each of them were filled to the brim with students. Fuutaro maintained his fast pace, seeming to ignore every table along his walk across the floor.

"The school canteen is the worst," someone could be heard saying.

"Uesugi-Kun is alone again, huh?"

"No way-"

"What a loser."

"Hmph," Fuutarou said to himself quietly, "These people don't know how wonderful it is to be alone. Well, not like those fools have anything to do with my life…Everything's gonna be alright!"

Fuutaro had been in the process of sliding his lunch tray onto the empty table he'd chosen but all of a sudden the corner of the boy's tray collided with another and his eyes widened slightly. His eyes narrowed on the edges of the miso soup watching it closely. Thankfully none of the soup had spilled out from the collision. He looked up rapidly intending to give the person a piece of mind but he was taken aback by the girl's appearance. a serious looking girl with medium-length reddish-orange hair and an ahoge sticking up from the top of her head.

'Who? It's not our school uniform? Oh Well.'

"I found this spot before you did!" the girl said angrily, "The next table is wide open. I think you should move."

"This is the table that I sit at every day, why don't you move?"

The battle ended in both of them taking seats at the table, the girl with red hair on the side closest to the wall and Fuutaro on the side closer to the cafeteria's walkway. Fuutaro hadn't expected the situation to turn out this way but it could've gone worse he supposed.

"Look, Uesugi's eating lunch with a girl."

"Is she stupid?"

"Seriously?"

'She's all red? You could've switched seats. Huh? Two fifty for udon, two shrimp tempura would be three hundred, the other varieties of tempura cost a hundred yen each, add the pudding and that's - who just drops a thousand yen on lunch?'

"Well, you do you."

The boy tells her then he reaches in his pockets and grabs his flashcards from inside..

The girl raises her hands together in a prayer motion, "Time to eat."

She collects some noodles on her chopstick and looks over to the boy, seeing that he was reading while eating. She scolds, "That's a little rude, don't you think? You're studying in the middle of lunch?"

"I'm reviewing my exam," Fuutaro tried to explain, "Leave me alone."

"You must be pretty screwed to be doing that during lunch time, what score did you get anyways?" Without waiting for the young man to answer, the red-haired girl reached over and took the exam from Fuutaro's grip, her eyes widening the second the score came into view, "Let's see, Uesugi Fuutaro-Kun…"

"Hey!"

"You scored…on-one-hundred!? How is this possible?"

"Oh man, I'm so embarrassed," Fuutaro said, a hint of exasperation to the young man's voice.

"You showed me this on purpose!" Itsuki exclaimed, "You wanted me to see it!" The red-haired girl had puffed out her cheeks indignantly, and now her eyes were narrowed in the young man's direction. There was a moment of silence, as the girl moved her hands into her lap, then she pressed on, "I hate to admit it but, I'm not so good at school stuff, I envy you." The girl leaned back and clapped her hands together, "It must've been fate that brought us together. D'you wanna help me study?"

However, Fuutaro was already holding his hands together in the motion of a prayer, "Well, this has been great."

"Y-you're done already!? You didn't eat much! Are you sure you got enough? I could share some of mine if you wanted."

This girl was persistent, Fuutaro would give her that. But he would have to decline here, he didn't want to make his problems anyone else's. The studious boy opened his mouth to answer, however it would not be his mouth that answered but the loud growling of his stomach that did it for him. The second the boy saw the almost unseeable smirk on the young woman's face he knew he'd lost this round. Silently accepting his defeat, Fuutaro took the seat he'd just vacated.

"Thank you," he told her quietly.

Smiling to herself, the girl deposited a few things from her lunch across into his empty bowl and then continued on with what she was saying, "You never answered my question, you know?"

"About studying with you?" Fuutaro asked, genuinely taken aback. It was rare for tutors to be the same age as their pupils, most got professionals in, or even asked an older student to do it. Still, the compensation could help with his family debts and perhaps he'd be able to provide somewhat of a better life for his family.

"Yes," the girl confirmed, "Would you?"

"Sure, why not? Where do you wanna meet after school?"

"I just transferred today," the girl told him, "So I probably don't have the best sense of the school yet, hmm, do you have a phone? It might be easier if you just text me your answer when you're ready."

That answer was surprising for Futaro, he didn't have any contacts in his phone outside of his father, his younger sister and the telecommunications company itself. Still, he saw no reason to deny her request. It would be easier than trying to track her down at the end of the day, after all.

Futaro ripped two empty cards off of his flashcards set, then handed the red-head a pen. Both of them jotted down their names then their phone numbers below it. Once they'd finished, the two of them swapped the cards.

"Nakano, Itsuki," Fuutaro said aloud, reading the girl's name off the flash card. He then took his phone from his pocket and entered her details into his contacts. "Okay, all entered. I'll text you once I'm ready to meet up." Having finished the food she'd been willing to share, Futaro once again politely excused himself, and this time, Itsuki seemed okay to let him go.

He'd barely left the cafeteria, and then he heard his phone buzz. Futaro retrieved the phone from the depths of his pockets and looked down toward the message. He nodded once to it, then headed into the bathroom. Futaro took a stall and locked the door behind him. The lid of the toilet seat was down, so he took a seat and dialed the phone.

"A chance to pay off our debt?"

"Yeah! Dad found a part time job for you! A super rich family just moved here and they're looking to hire a tutor. What d'you think?"

"A tutor, huh?"

"You'd get to work in a nice, fancy house and it pays five times the going rate."

"Eh, sounds like a sketchy deal if I'm being honest."

"Well, selling a kidney is sketchy too but you only need one to live."

"W-what are you suggesting?"

"Hehe. It's a joke! But if you do do it then you'll be able to afford some actual meals. It's worth a try."

"So do we know anything about who I'm tutoring?"

"Hmmm, high-school age. In fact I'm pretty sure he said you're going to be classmates. What was the name? Nakano?"

"Ah yeah, in that case I think I've already met her. Lunch is almost up so I'd better get going if I don't want to be late. I'll see you for dinner, okay?"

"Sure thing big brother, bye!"

Chapter's End

And there you have it. I was rewatching the anime recently and the scene where Fuutaro and the girls go to the fireworks festival and he's unable to help Nino call the sisters made me think of this little tidbit. Thank you for reading. Please leave a review.