Shape of the Heart – Four-leaf Clover
By Fox McCloude
Disclaimer: The Quintessential Quintuplets and all related characters belong to Haruba Negi. All rights reserved.
Extra: Happy Birthday, Kintarou!
At a city park, by a fountain…
Kintarou Uesugi exhaled deeply, checking his cellphone every once in a while. Even though he'd come a few minutes earlier, the wait felt too long. He couldn't wait to see his girl, and celebrate his birthday at full throttle.
His girl… it felt great to call her that way.
A few months back, Kintarou wouldn't have believed in long-distance relationships. While he only lived a couple hours in train away, when it came to serious relationships the blond preferred regular contact. Unfortunately, he'd been duped a couple times, so he didn't trust them much.
But with Nino… there was something different.
'Hard to believe, that grumpy nerd of my cousin could befriend these beautiful sisters. Well, I'm not complaining. I owe it to him for introducing us.'
While there was that instant 'spark' when his cousin introduced him to the second Nakano sister, at the time he didn't expect to see her again so soon at the school camp, or that they'd grow even closer when he saved her and her sister from falling off that cliff. He got a huge scare, and he felt relieved when he stopped them from getting hurt or worse. The later token of gratitude in the form of sweets didn't hurt either.
"Sorry I'm late! Did I make you wait too much?"
He instantly recognized Nino's voice, and looked up. The girl clearly had done her best to dress up nicely for him: she wore a black, long sleeved blouse with bare shoulders, and a small heart-shaped hole on the cleavage. Her skirt, pretty tight around the waist, was grey with a checkered pattern, falling halfway down her thighs. She also wore black, thigh-high socks and platform shoes. The most noticeable detail was that she'd done her hair in twin pigtails, holding them up with her butterfly ribbons.
"Hairstyle change today?" the blond commented, making the girl smile.
"Ah, I'm glad you noticed," she replied as she twirled a finger around one of her pigtails. "What do you think? Does it suit me?"
"Well, I admit I like it loose more, but it's not bad for a change. Makes you look more innocent, I'd say," he commented with some amusement.
"You flatterer." She got a hold of his arm. "So, ready to celebrate your birthday?"
"Couldn't be readier if I tried," he assured. "I'm dying to know what you've planned for today."
"Oh? But you're the birthday guy, you sure you want me to decide?"
"Why not? Come on, surprise me," he said, half-flirting, half-challenging.
Nino returned the smirk, and immediately they started walking. Truth was, he didn't care much where would go or what they would do. Spending the day with her would be an amazing experience on itself, and he wasn't like his cousin about making plans. He was more the spontaneous type, and whatever Nino would like, he was sure he'd like it too.
…
The first stop was a large brand clothing store at the mall. It seemed Nino wanted to get him some new clothes that he liked, even though he wasn't at a shortage for it. He'd just come out of the dresser, and while he wasn't a maniac about clothing, he had to acknowledge the girl had a good eye for fashionable clothing.
"How's this? Looks perfect on you," the Nakano said as they glanced at the mirror.
"Looks pretty good, actually," he admitted, turning around to see his back.
While he had no shortage of biker jackets in his closet, the one Nino had picked for him had a pretty cool design in the back. A muscular, male angel with a white wing and a black wing, even with a yin-yang symbol on the chest, which represented the duality pretty well. The rest of the outfit complemented it well; dark blue pants with a black stripe on the side, and biker boots fit for him to complete the attire. All that he needed was the gloves and helmet, but he wouldn't say that in front of Nino, lest she'd be annoyed.
"So, shall I buy this one for you?" Nino asked. "It's your birthday after all."
"Hmm… actually, I just thought of a better present, since we're here," the blond said, glancing around.
He gave her a roguish look. He noticed how the girl's face flushed a little, as if she suspected or knew what he was about to say.
"Why don't you give me a little fashion show?" he suggested. "I bet there's plenty of nice clothing in this place that suits you nicely."
"Eh? Me, a fashion show?" Now then, the Nakano's face turned redder than her hair, and she covered it with her hands. "Kintarou-kun, that would be so embarrassing!"
"Why? You're a real knockout. And don't worry, it's not like I'm gonna force you into lingerie or something like that."
Not that he didn't fancy the idea, but he didn't want her to think he was a pervert only lusting after her body. Even so, it took her a little to convince her, and after packing up Kintarou's clothing, they headed for the female section.
Nino took a while to pick an outfit, and after getting out of the dresser, she was wearing a long-sleeved, white blouse, with a frilly black skirt with thigh-high socks of the same color. His first thought was that she'd only need a frilly apron to become a maid worthy of his fantasies, but the outfit itself looked nice on her.
"Oh yeah, I need to save this." Kintarou pulled out his phone. "Hey Nino, how about a pose for the camera?"
Nino complied, placing a hand on her hip, and the other behind her head, smiling and winking. He clicked on the switch and he saved the image in his cellphone's memory.
"I hope you don't plan on sharing that publically," she warned him, puffing up her cheeks.
"Are you crazy? No way I'm sharing this with anybody else. No, gorgeous, this is only for yours truly."
That seemed not only to alleviate, but even delighted the second sister, and she immediately vanished behind the curtain to get changed. After that, she chose an attire with a purple, open-neck sweater, with white knee-high pants, which accentuated her long, shapely legs. Although he preferred skirts, the purple blouse made up for it, as it definitely was her color.
Next, she donned a brown, one-piece dress, with a short jacket with checkered laces on the sleeves. The cleavage cut was a little low, and the boy had to struggle to keep his eyes in Nino's face, not very successful until she finally went for another.
For about an hour or so, the Nakano tried out all kinds of attires, including a red Chinese dress with a butterfly pattern that went well with her ribbons, and the boy had to beg her to let him take photos from every angle. Nino suggested that, if she liked it so much, she could buy it and put it on whenever he wanted, which he gladly accepted along with his own new biker clothes.
"I could have bought you a lot more if you wanted. Why'd you just take this one?" the Nakano asked as they exited the store.
"I don't wanna send you back home with too many bags," he replied. "After all, we've got the rest of my birthday ahead of us, don't we?"
"Well, that much is true." Nino nodded. "Speaking of that, why don't you choose our next destination?"
The blond pondered on it for a bit. His eyes glanced around and he spotted very close by a place that looked too tempting to pass up the chance.
"How about we go there?" he asked, pointing at it.
Less than a block away was an indoor pool, with large blue letters that read "BLUE GAIA" in bold. They weren't still in summer break so they couldn't go to the beach, but this didn't seem a bad alternative. And the prospect of seeing her in a swimsuit was very, very enticing…
"T-the pool? Er… well, I wouldn't mind, but…"
"Is there a problem?"
The Nakano became notably nervous, looking away from him. He wasn't going to take her to a place she didn't want to go, but she was the one who asked him to pick the next destination. On the other hand, he hadn't brought a swimsuit for the date, but if she had money they could easily buy some without issues.
If it was another thing, though…
"I… I'm not a very good swimmer, to be honest," she confessed, fiddling with her fingers. "Whenever my feet can't touch the bottom, I panic and start flailing, so…"
"Oh, I get it," the boy finally understood. "Well, you're lucky then. Yours truly here can teach you how to overcome your fear of the water, if you like."
"You'd do that for me?" she said, clearly moved.
"Why of course." The boy placed his fist on his chest, quite proud. "Leave it all to me!"
"Well, if that's the case, we'll need the proper attire. There's a beach article shop nearby, so we can get some swimsuits over there," the Nakano suggested.
"Sounds like a plan. Lead the way then."
…
The real challenge in the beach article shop was that Nino couldn't pick a bikini for herself, so she asked Kintarou for his thoughts. In his opinion, with a body like hers anything would look nice, but as they were in a bit of a hurry, she ended up picking a black bikini with white frills, which left very little to imagination despite having a relatively decent coverage. He for his part went for a pair of black and blue shorts.
The Blue Gaia pool wasn't too crowded that day, so Kintarou and Nino had plenty of space for themselves. That way, the blond could teach the second sister how to swim well, staying close so she would feel safe. Also, to prevent her long hair from getting in the way, she'd curled up her pigtails into a pair of buns below her shoulders.
"Alright," he said holding her hands, in an area where the water was below chest-deep. "Raise your legs backwards and start kicking. I'll carry you to the other side."
"Don't even think about letting go of me," the girl warned him, before taking a deep breath and sink her face in the water, raising up her legs.
Nino then began kicking, while Kintarou pulled her by the hands to the other edge. At no point did she raise her head to breathe until they reached the other side, so when they finally stopped, the girl took another deep breath. Her lungs were probably demanding oxygen at the time.
"That's it, you really know how to kick the water," the boy said in an approval tone. "Now, let's practice the arm strokes."
Carefully, he placed both his arms under her to lift her until she was in horizontal position. The girl was shivering a little, and he was certain it had nothing to do with the water being cold. He for his part had to struggle to avoid gazing too much at the girl's shapely derriere, as the bikini truly left little to imagination in that zone (as well at the front).
"Stretch an arm forward, and bend the other backwards. Keep always your hands pointing ahead," he pointed.
"Like this?" Nino asked. He was forced to correct her arm's position a little bit.
"Now then. Let's see how you do the strokes."
The Nakano complied and moved her arms just as he told her. She didn't do it too badly, but there was a little trouble: she was moving them independently from one another, and that'd do her no good at all.
"Alright, that wasn't too shabby, but a little detail's off." He let go of her so she could stand again. "Look, imagine your arms are like a bike's pedals. They can't move independently from one another. When one is ahead, the other is behind, when one is above, the other is below, you get my drift?"
"Wow, you really know your stuff about this," an amazed Nino said.
"Ah, it's no big deal. I learned this as a kid, but it's never too late to do so. Now, let's try that again."
He held Nino in horizontal position once more. This time he noticed she was a bit more relaxed, and the Nakano managed to reproduce the moves much better. A few minutes passed before she got the hang of it, but all things considered, she was doing pretty well.
"Alright, you got down the strokes and kicks. Now try to do both at the same time. Rest easy, I'll be close if something happens."
Nino nodded began repeating the arm and leg moves just as he told her. She didn't make it even five meters away before sinking in the middle of a huge splash, and she had to come back out gasping for air.
"Ah, geez! Why can't I get it right?!" she screamed, flailing her arms on the water and splashing with anger. "This is so embarrassing."
"Come on, calm down," he said, holding her by the shoulders. "Not everyone can do it on the first try. You'll eventually get it. Why don't we rest for a bit?"
Nino nodded, and the two went to sit by the pool's edge, leaving their feet in the water. The boy handed her a towel so she could put it over her shoulders, and she smiled at him. As she softly kicked on the water, the boy glanced every once in a while at the exposed parts of her body. Her thighs, her stomach, and of course her chest.
"What are you looking at?" She covered herself when she noticed his eyes.
"Me? Nothing, nothing at all," he lied, trying to play innocent.
"You don't have to lie to me," she said in a fake angry tone, though quickly switched to a sweet voice. "If you want to stare you have but to ask, you know?"
"Really? Not many girls do that," said Kintarou. "I feel I'm a very lucky guy."
"Hey, it's your birthday, you have the right to some eye candy." The Nakano posed by placing her hands behind her head and sticking out her chest, making the towel fall off of her. "Besides, you're not the only one who's ogling here. I can see you're in pretty good shape yourself."
Kintarou smirked at the compliment. He'd hit the gym on a regular basis since a few years back, and even had some weights back home, so he'd make use of them. Getting Nino's attention was a plus for him, so he wouldn't complain.
"Ahh, this is really embarrassing." Nino dropped herself backwards over the towel, her feet still in the water. "I'm the only among my sisters who can't swim, so I always have to stick close to the shore when we go to the beach."
"Hey, with a little practice anybody can do it," the boy assured. "My cousin took a lot more than me to learn how to swim, you know?"
"Hah, I bet it must have been fun, to see him flail around trying not to sink," The Nakano sat up again, picking up the towel. "Say, do you plan on going to the beach this summer?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Of course, if I had the chance to go with you, I'd definitely consider it. Plus, it'd give me more time to give you free swimming lessons, if you'd like to."
Nino giggled, and gave him a playful little shove. After a few laughs, Kintarou asked if she wanted something to drink, and he headed for a vending machine, bringing a pair of drinks for each. Something warm to counter having spent so much time in the cold water.
Truth was, this birthday date was turning out to be much better than he imagined. Even more with such good company by his side.
…
The rest of the day went pretty well, all things considered. While she wasn't a good swimmer, Nino didn't complain for taking her to the pool, but even so he allowed her to pick the next destination, which turned out to be a spa where he got some massages while she made herself a beauty treatment (internally he wondered why she thought she needed it). Kintarou had never been in one with this, and while it was a bit weird, after he came out he felt pretty good, with a lot more energy.
After that, they hit an arcade. Nino wasn't exactly a fan of videogames or machines, but the blond showed her how fun it could be a marathon in the Dance Dance Revolution, even dancing a duet that attracted plenty of looks. Nino had never tried this, but after they were done, she admitted she'd love to do this for a future date someday.
As Kintarou felt like eating something sweet for his birthday, the latest stop turned out to be Nino's favorite chocolate shop, after she asked him if he liked chocolate. Kintarou replied affirmatively and agreed in a heartbeat, though he never thought he'd seen so much chocolates together in a single place, barring some old animated series.
"Come on, open wide and say 'aaaaahhh'." He held up a cream filled bonbon between his fingers.
"Aaaaaaahhhh." The girl giggled as he placed it on her mouth. "Hmm, they're as tasty as ever, but when you feed them to me, they're even better."
"Yeah, this place is awesome," the blond said looking around. "You come here often?"
"Every once in a while. It's a good place to get inspiration to make new sweets."
"Like the one you gave me for Valentine's Day?"
He still remembered that one. Not only it was delicious, but had also been carefully crafted on the visual appeal. He could see how much effort, and love, she'd put into it.
"Of course. It wasn't easy to get the recipe for the one I gave you, though," the Nakano beamed with pride. "Speaking of, did you get more chocolates that day?"
"One or two," the boy admitted. "But rest easy, I wasn't gonna eat them until I got yours. Matter of fact, I left them for my old man so he could have a snack at work."
"Uhhh, that was cruel, Kintarou-kun. I mean, I'm glad you prefer mine, but I wasn't going to be mad if you ate them. If only to not to waste them."
Kintarou laughed it off and shrugged. She said that now, but he wasn't taking any chances. Nino was a sweet girl, but he could tell that in heart business she was pretty bold and straightforward, and something told him he shouldn't risk out making her jealous. Besides, it was well worth waiting the whole day for the package she sent.
Both of them continued enjoying their chocolates, and Kintarou stared at her for a bit. She was a good girl, if a bit aggressive at times and always going straight to the point, but he liked women who didn't play around.
He was sure his mother would have liked Nino, had she lived to meet her.
"Kintarou-kun? Hey, Kintarou-kun."
"Huh?" Nino waving her hand in front of him snapped him out of it. "Sorry, did you say something?"
"You seemed a little gone for a bit. Is there something in your mind?"
"Hmm… yeah, I was thinking about my mom," the blond confessed. "I think she may have liked meeting you, you know?"
"Really?" Nino rested her chin over her hand, looking intrigued. "Come to think about it, we've talked a lot about our fathers, but not our mothers."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Kintarou nodded.
One of the things they quickly bonded over instantly was the fact of both having issues with their respective fathers. The two would often talk about that when they needed some venting, but it wasn't until now that they realized it wasn't the only thing they had in common about family issues.
Namely, both of them had lost their mothers a few years ago.
"What was your mom like?" the blond asked, wanting to keep the conversation on the same track.
"She was a very serious woman," said Nino. "I guess it had to do with the fact that she worked as a school teacher. But she was always loving to us five. Even though she had to watch us over alone, she'd always smile and tell us how much she loved us five. And she'd never play favorites, but then again, that may have been hard when we all were pretty much the same."
Kintarou got the impression that Nino said the last part to give it some humor, even though she clearly had it difficult to talk about her mother. What was clear, however, was that Nino truly loved her mom, and even now her absence still had an effect.
"She must have been a strong woman, to take care alone of five daughters," Kintarou commented.
"She was, yes, but… not that strong." The Nakano became a little sad. "She had to work harder every day to help us get by. That took a toll on her health, until… well, you know."
Kintarou nodded. It shouldn't have been easy for Nino and her sisters to see their mother weakening little by little before their eyes.
"Truth is, I think we were lucky Mama found Papa when she did. Hadn't she married him, maybe we would have ended up split up, in different foster homes. That thought terrifies me."
"I can imagine." Kintarou had a shiver. He knew how protective and attached was Nino to her sister, so it was understandable that she would be scared of the idea of being separated from them.
"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Papa has given us a roof and everything we need, but sometimes… I wish he'd give us more than just money. When they made it official, Mama said he'd be our father, and sometimes I feel I just put up with him because she told us."
"Yeah, I think I get it," the blond nodded, thinking about his own father.
When his parents divorced, his mom told him that even though they were separated, he was still Kintarou's father, but for him, family was more than just blood. It meant to be present in your loved ones' lives, something his father hadn't done much of in the past few years.
"What about yours?" the Nakano asked. "What was she like?"
"Well, to put it simple, I think my mother was the complete opposite to yours," he replied. "She was always rather cheery, and never quite grew out of her schoolgirl phase. I still remember when she gave me my first hair dye bottle."
"Sounds like she was someone fun," Nino commented.
"You have no idea," he confirmed. "She had her quirks, obviously; she couldn't cook to save her life, so I had to learn to make my own meals, as well as hers so we wouldn't get sick. Nothing like you, obviously, just basic meals. But all in all, we got along nicely. I think I was always closer to her, even before she divorced my old man."
"At least you did have your father for a while," said Nino. "More than I could say about mine."
Kintarou for a moment wondered if Nino was talking about her biological father, or her current one. He knew Mr. Nakano was a distant man and a workaholic, so they'd rarely see him (he still hadn't had the chance to meet him in person), and the biological one was a taboo topic, as all Nino had told him was that he left their mother while she was pregnant. That alone gave him all the context he needed, he though, so there wasn't anything else to inquire about it.
"Anyway, back to your mom, if it's fine to ask… how did she die? You mentioned it was a traffic accident, but beyond that…"
Kintarou held back the impulse to sigh. Actually, he didn't know much of how things went down, most of it was what others recounted to him later. After all, they'd called him while he was at school when it happened.
"Truth be told, I don't know exactly how it went down," he admitted. "From what they told me later, some guy in a road-rage frenzy ate a red light and rammed her sideways, causing a multiple crash, and then ran away from the scene. By the time I got to the hospital… she was already dead."
"I'm really sorry," Nino said with a compassionate voice. "I can't imagine how you felt, your mother being taken away from you so violently."
"Hey, I bet it wasn't easy for you, either. I mean, seeing your mom growing weaker little by little, until she couldn't hold anymore."
"That's true." The Nakano nodded. "But at least, me and my sisters could be there, to say goodbye to her when the time came. You didn't even get that."
"I know. My only consolation is that, at least, my old man didn't rest until he made sure the guy responsible paid for what he did. Turns out he had a long list of traffic offenses, but he'd always get away scot-free because of his influences. My old man didn't care, though; he put him behind bars even when it took him several months of investigation. He's a good cop, I'll give him that."
Both of them were left with their gaze low and silent for a moment. He didn't know why Nino had brought up the topic about their mothers, but talking about it felt… extremely liberating. He'd gotten off a huge weight, as it'd been quite a while since he had spoken to someone outside his close family about it.
"Hey, by the way… I still haven't thanked you," he said, holding her hand. "I can barely believe you spend this much money for my birthday. You're the first girl who does so much for me, you know?"
"Well, what's good about having money if you have no one to share?" Nino replied, waving it off. "A guy like you is worth all this, and even more."
"More? Don't tell me you still have more plans?" he asked, interested and delighted.
"Oh yeah. The day isn't over yet, and there's a lot more to celebrate."
Both finished their chocolates and Nino headed to pay for them. As they did, though, Kintarou looked at one of the tables that was the furthest from them. Aside from the two of them, there wasn't a lot of people at the chocolate shop, but there was someone in particular who stood out from the rest.
Specifically, a bald, bearded old man, where most of the other customers were kids or young adults. It was kind of weird to see someone of that age eating sweets that way.
"Something wrong, Kintarou-kun?" asked Nino.
"Huh? No, nothing, just…"
The boy hadn't told Nino anything to avoid scaring or making her uncomfortable, but sometimes he seemed to catch that old man, who entered shortly after them, giving glances towards their table, only to look away when he noticed.
He wasn't sure why, but his gut told them he was watching them, and he didn't like that one bit.
"Forget it," said Kintarou. "You said it, there's a lot to continue celebrating, right?"
"That's right, let's move out!"
Without further ado, Nino grabbed him by the wrist and they both exited the chocolate shop. If that old man gave him bad vibes, the best they could do was to get away from there.
Leaving that aside, Kintarou could say that this had been his best birthday in a long time. Spending it in the company of such a cheery and beautiful girl like Nino was a real pleasure, although part of him regretted not being able to have a double date with his cousin and Nino's older sister.
Then again, if Fuutarou wanted to have quality time alone with Ichika, who was he to deny it? As she was his first girlfriend, it stood to logic that they preferred to have company and not a crowd.
'Though that sneaky dog is ahead of me in the relationship. He already knows the dad-in-law and all, and I still don't dare to,' he thought.
Admittedly, he was a little bit envious of his cousin who, despite being so asocial, had been able to confront the Nakanos' father about the relationship face to face. He still hadn't taken that step, but from the stuff Nino and Fuutarou had told him about Mr. Nakano, the prospect terrified him every time the topic was brought up, as he didn't seem the kind of person who'd accept a guy like her for one of his daughters.
Even with his 'bad boy' image, he wasn't the type who'd toy with a girl's feelings for fun. Nino was someone very special for him; he'd already gone out on casual dates once or twice before, but she was the first girl he was genuinely interested in, to the point of wanting something serious. And he didn't want to blow it by causing a bad impression on her dad.
But that was a problem for another day. As Nino had said, his birthday was still far from over, and he was supposed to celebrate and have a good time with her.
To be continued…
Author's notes:
What's up, people? And we're back on track. As promised, the extra chapter featuring Kintarou's birthday date with Nino. Since the second Nakano already had her own chapter, I figured it'd be better to narrate this one from the cousin's perspective, to show a little on how he sees her. They're pretty fun to write as a secondary couple, not to mention I also gave me the chance to talk about their moms, expanding more on Kintarou's mom (maybe a way to extend my tribute to Aunt Tencha, after that omake I did). Also, the part about the swimming lessons, I originally wanted to wait until the summer vacation arc, but I sincerely couldn't resist when I was writing the date, so I said "To hell with that, let's get them started". The visual novel has many interesting details and I hope to get the chance to see it fully translated to English, either officially or fanmade.
On the other hand, Kintarou has also taken notice of the old geezer's presence. As you can see, unlike in canon he's not only stalking Itsuki, but also Nino (and possibly the others). And you can be certain that we haven't seen the last of him. And with the waste of "villain" that he was in canon, I have fortunately planned what I'm gonna do with him, but there's still a lot to go before that, so I'm not spoiling anything for now.
Thanks for the reviews a TheMist33, Guest and bobalon (still a few chapters behind, but you've almost caught up). As for when the next chapter will come, all I can promise is that I'm gonna try (heads up, emphasis on "try") to move this story forward at least one chapter per month, two if I can make a good breakthrough. There are some other projects I want to continue or get started, not to mention my compromises in real life, so I'm asking for some patience and no pressure for me to move forward, okay? That's all, until next time, sayonara!