Disclaimer: I don't own the Quintessential Quintuplets.

"I don't understand…"

Futaro's ears perked up upon hearing Yotsuba speak in an utterly confused tone. He put down his book and stood up from his armchair. He smiled as he approached the young woman. It felt like only yesterday when she had said these words to him back when they were teacher and student. It was surreal to think that their relationship had evolved - to become husband and wife.

Nobody had ever expected Futaro Uesugi to get married. Least of all to one of the five Nakano Quintuplets who had given him many a headache while he'd tutored them during their school days.

"What don't you understand?" he asked his wife. "Our days of studying together are behind us now - although if you've decided to crack open a text book right now, I can easily talk you through the problems you're going over! I'm still the same smart guy you had as your tutor-"

"No." Yotsuba held up a hand. "That's not what I don't understand at all."

Futaro stood before his wife. His smile faded when he heard the solemn in her voice. He could tell whenever the usually cheerful and ever air-headed Yotsuba was being serious, whatever was on her mind was no laughing matter.

"Then what is it?" he asked.

"What I don't understand is…" Yotsuba's blue eyes shimmered as she fixed her face gazed to the young man before her. "Why did you choose to marry me?"

"Huh?" Futaro's mouth hung open, a sign of how he was caught off guard by the question asked by his wife.

"I mean, why would you want to be married to an idiot like me?" Yotsuba asked in a cracking voice. "You could have chosen any one of my sisters! Ichika, Nino, Miku, Itsuki… you could've married any of them instead of me!"

Futaro frowned. "Don't say that."

"But it's true." Yotsuba lowered her head , closing her eyes gloomily. "Why me? All I've ever done is hold my sisters back and caused you stress when you were tutoring us. Yet none of you ever gave up on me - even though I deserved to be left behind. Why would you want to spend the rest of your life with an idiot like me?"

"Because my life would be meaningless without you."

Yotsuba's eyes opened, filling with surprise at what Futaro said - before feeling him place her hands gently onto her shoulders. She lifted her gaze, finding herself looking upon Futaro's face - which was overflowing with sincerity as he fixed it with hers.

"I am who I am because of you, Yotsuba. It's because of you that I was committed to studying well enough to take the job of becoming your tutor. It's because of you that I was able to help you and your sisters pass your exams while finally clearing up my family's debts. All of the problems we were going through managed to get resolved. You and the others were able to graduate while my family is now financially stable - because of that fateful day when I met you."

Yotsuba felt her cheeks heating up. They were turning red while her blue eyes filled with modesty. She was humbled that Futaro was stating that the way everyone's futures had turned out for the better had been down to her. It was surreal to think that fateful day when she'd met and befriended him during their visit to Kyoto had been the catalyst to line up their paths which had led them to where they were now. All five of the quintuplets had managed to achieve successful well-paid jobs while Futaro was no longer having to struggle to keep a roof over his and Raiha's heads.

If they hadn't found their way into each others lives during their younger days, the two of them would not even be married now.

"But…" Yotsuba murmured "Like I said, you could've married any one of my sisters… They deserve you far more than an idiot like me does…"

A warm smile found its way onto Futaro's face. He raised his arms and wrapped them around Yotsuba, bringing a squeak of surprise out of her as he pulled her into a tight hug.

"That's you, Yotsuba…" he said, running his hand through her hair. "Always thinking of others and willing to put them before yourself."

Stunned and confused, Yotsuba gaped as she peered up at her husband, feeling him holding her securely in the warmth of his arms.

"That's only one of many reasons why I love you…" he said truthfully. "And why I want to spend my entire life with you by my side - as my wife."

Yotsuba's eyes widened. Her heart raced inside her chest of the touching words Futaro had uttered. They were worlds away from the orders and demands he had thrown at her and her sisters when he had been their tutor. It was surreal to hear such heartfelt things from the person who had always been so grumpy and anti-social as a teenager - although Yotsuba had always known there was more to Futaro than his studious surface.

"Wha-" she began, only to be cut off as her husband placed a fingertip against her lips to silence her.

"Yotsuba… It's high time you started thinking about your own happiness now…" Futaro lowered his fingertip down from his wife's lips to place it gently underneath her chin. "That's what I'm determined to make you - forever."

At last, the corners of the young woman's lips curled upwards into a smile,

making her look far more like the Yotsuba everyone knew and loved. Her eyes shone in adoration at her husband as she threw her arms around him - before pressing her lips passionately against his own.

Futaro was surprised. He was nearly thrown off his feet from being lunged into by the most athletic of the quintuplets. In all his happiness to call her his wife, he sealed his lips with hers as they kissed out of all the undying love they had for one another. There was no other girl he wanted to spend his life with more than this one - and he was perfectly willing to allow her sisters along for the ride. After all, they had also changed his life just as much as he had changed theirs.

The young married couple remained locked together in their embrace and kiss for a good while before pulling away. Yotsuba kept hold of the young man as she smiled brightly up at him. She was so happy to be able to go from addressing him as her tutor - to calling him her husband.

"I love you, Futaro…" she whispered.

Futaro chuckled. After having Yotsuba always refer to him by his last name in their teenage years, it felt so good that she was finally calling him by his first name. He rubbed her back gently, bringing a sweet giggle out of her as he pecked her cheek.

"I love you too," he replied earnestly, "Mrs Yotsuba Uesugi."

THE END