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.
Chapter 34: Break time, Part 1.
Asahiyama High…
The week of the final exams had all the students frantic and nervous, especially those who left studying for the last minute, or were busy with extracurricular activities. It was always the same, too much to do and too little time.
Once the results were published, Fuutarou saw the quints and Maeda desperately searching for their names in the list of passing grades, reacting with varied levels of relief and/or celebration. Miku and Itsuki simply sighed in relief, while Yotsuba high-fived with Nino and Ichika, and later with Matsui, once Maeda had put her back on the floor after hoisting her up and twirling her a few rounds in the air, once he saw he'd also passed by the hair.
"They seem quite happy." Next to him, Takeda was also watching and couldn't help but snicker. "I suppose it must be normal for the Nakanos, you must feel very proud of them as their tutor, right?"
"Of course. Though I have to admit, I wish they aimed to pass with high grades, instead of just barely not flunking," said Fuutarou.
"Don't be so hard with them. Not everyone is as academically strong as us," Takeda pointed.
Fuutarou simply shrugged, but conceded the point. Academic smarts could be important, but if he'd learned something during the past year, it was that there were other things just as or more important, things he'd forgotten due to focusing so much in studying.
That said, while they'd done well in the final exams, the third years would be left with a lot of work to do in summer, and they also had to study for the college entrance exams. So during these last few weeks they'd have to do a lot, if they wanted to enjoy their summer break.
Come to think of it, he still hadn't made any plans for the season. In the past few years, he'd been too buried studying to keep his perfect scores, never going out to do anything for fun, although it wasn't like he had anyone outside his family to hang out with.
"Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba's scream, as she came running towards him at the moment, snapped him out of his thoughts. The girl raised her hand for a high-five. "We did it, we passed all the exams!"
"Good work," he said, clashing his hand with hers and smiling slightly. "Don't forget we still have the summer homework to do, though."
"Do you have to remind us?" Nino intervened, slightly annoyed. "Let us forget about studying for one day, geez."
"Now, now, don't get mad, Nino," said Ichika trying to calm the second sister. "Anyway, since we all passed, how about we go celebrate with some ice-cream after class? My treat!"
Upon hearing the offer, Itsuki was the first to second it, followed by the others one by one. Fuutarou rolled his eyes, but since everyone seemed so excited and thinking they had earned, he played along and decided to go too. After all, they'd finish the day very soon, so relaxing a little bit wouldn't be so bad.
…
A bit later, Fuutarou was by the school gym's door, watching the female volleyball team's training. While he wasn't part of the club, at Yotsuba's request he was allowed to watch as long as he didn't interrupt them, even though he didn't need to stay and help her do additional training. His sole presence seemed enough to motivate her, and that was a good thing.
Today, however, he wasn't the only one who came to watch the training.
"Will they finish soon?" The boy turned, seeing Ichika approach the gym's entrance. The eldest of the Nakanos watched the players, or more specifically her sister as she delivered a powerful spike over the net.
"About twenty minutes to go," he replied watching the hour in his phone.
"Yotsuba seems to have regained her enthusiasm," Ichika commented. "I'm glad for that."
"Yeah, same here," he nodded. She seemed back to her usual self, and having qualified for the nationals was a plus. That had raised the whole club's moral, and by far.
"By the way… have you made plans for this summer?"
The question caught him off-guard. Incidentally, he'd been thinking about it since the exams results were published, and he couldn't help but smile at the irony.
"Not yet. Before that, I'd better finish the schoolwork so I won't have to worry about them at the last minute."
"Always thinking about studying first, huh?" Ichika asked with a slight mockery.
"Obviously," he shrugged. "But really, isn't it better to get it off your shoulders at once? That way we'll have the rest of the summer to do whatever we want, and have fun. Don't you agree?"
"Hmm… if you put it that way, I guess you're right," Ichika admitted. "In that case… how about a change of airs?"
Fuutarou turned to see her again, his attention momentarily away from Yotsuba as she continued her training without breaking a sweat. He gave Ichika a curious glance, and the pinkette once more smiled at him enigmatically.
"Wouldn't you like a place that's relaxed, far away from everything and everyone, where we could study without anyone disturbing us?"
"Do you know a place like that?" asked Fuutarou. But before Ichika could answer, a ball went astray from the court, interrupting their conversation as Fuutarou had to catch it before it hit Ichika.
"Sorry!" the player who sent it apologized. Fuutarou simply tossed the ball back at her, and shrugged, before turning at a very smiling and grateful Ichika.
"Nice catch, thanks."
"You're welcome. So, where were we?"
Ichika simply snickered. She gestured for him to come closer and began to whisper to his ear. It was a bit weird, but he complied, and what she began to tell her left him… surprised, to say the least.
Everything seemed to point that this year's summer break would be very, very interesting.
One week later…
The last few days before the summer break went by much faster than Fuutarou imagined. The boy had gone pretty quickly from not having plans to being offered a chance he may not have in a very long time, or maybe in his whole life.
From Ichika's account, as an additional incentive to pass their exams, their father had promised them a surprise reward, and since they scored pretty well, they'd earned it. Said surprise turned out to be a two-week trip to a summer house in a private island, fully equipped to have fun, for the five of them and five others if they wanted company. Fuutarou was a bit surprised by this, but since they'd turned eighteen, maybe he trusted they'd be responsible enough to not to try anything funny.
Naturally, the problem came about who would accompany the Nakanos in this trip. Fuutarou had the first extra slot, and when he told his parents, he figured Raiha would like to come along. Much to his surprise, his little sister declined the offer, since she had signed up for a summer camp, and while she said she appreciated it, she preferred to spend time with her elementary school friends. Fuutarou accepted her choice, so the next option was his cousin. He was pretty sure Nino would be glad that Kintarou came along, and as expected the blond accepted without hesitation.
As for the three remaining slots, Itsuki wanted to invite the Italian brothers, with whom she'd made very close friends in the past months by becoming a regular customer in their restaurant, but they said they couldn't come as they had to work, though they thanked her for the offer. Fuutarou wondered if she fancied one of them, or maybe she just wanted to bring them along so they could cook, but that still left three empty slots. Miku suggested she wouldn't mind if Takeda was invited, and since Maeda hadn't done any plans himself, he ended up joining them too.
With the final slot, he learned from Yotsuba that Matsui had gotten an elbow injury during a volleyball training after the regionals. While it wasn't serious, she was ordered to rest from the club so it wouldn't get worse, and since her own boyfriend had been invited, Yotsuba suggested she could come too, as the timing matched her recovery period.
And that was how they ended up here. He'd gotten up early to get to the station, while he dragged a small wheeled suitcase. He didn't have much inside, just some changes of clothes, bathing trunks, beach towels and the typical stuff for this kind of trips. Of course, he had not forgotten about his books and notebooks to finish his schoolwork, which he carried inside his backpack. He didn't take long in seeing the five sisters waiting for him at the designated meeting point, and they saw him too.
"Ah, Uesugi-san! Here, over here!" Yotsuba waved her hand to get his attention, and he immediately walked towards them.
"Hey," he greeted before giving them a look from head to toe. "I can see you're all ready for the summer, huh?"
Indeed, all of them wore very light clothes, either warm dresses with sunhats, or in Yotsuba's case a sleeveless hoodie with the number 428, with very small sport shorts, and sneakers instead of high-heeled sandals like the others. They were also dragging wheeled suitcases or traveling bags hanging from their shoulders.
"You seem to be ready too," Ichika remarked. "And to think you spent the whole week doing homework and studying, didn't you?"
"Don't judge me," he replied. "And I'm still not done, barely halfway through. The sooner I finish, the less I'll have to worry when we go back to class."
"Always the brainiac, huh?" Nino sarcastically said. "By the way, where's Kintarou-kun?"
"He said he'll arrive on his own," he replied. "My uncle's on duty today, so he can't give him the ride."
Fuutarou knew his uncle, Kintarou's father, was a police officer, and if he was on duty his cousin would have to get a lift from someone else. After all, he could not take his bike to their destination, since they'll have to take the train to the harbor, and then the boat to the private island.
A few minutes later, a red convertible car parked near their position, and a boy with blond spiky hair hopped off of it. After looking around and spotting them, he ran towards their position without missing a beat. Fuutarou was surprised to see his cousin came early, instead of showing up late to show off.
"Hey, hey, here's the man you've been crying for, ladies!" The blond turned to see the second sister, to whom he gave one of his typical looks. "Nino, you look amazing today."
"Kintarou-kun!" the aforementioned almost jumped him. He caught her and twirled her around a few times before setting her back on the ground. "I'm so glad you could make it, I wanted to see you so much!"
"Same here, gorgeous, I missed you." Kintarou gave her a kiss and then turned at Fuutarou. "Hey, cous', thanks for inviting me."
"You should thank them, I just suggested it," Fuutarou replied with a shrug. He wouldn't mention Raiha was his first choice to invite for the trip. Speaking of her, he hoped she was having fun at the camp with her friends.
"So then, who else is coming with us?" Kintarou asked. "Didn't you say there'd be ten of us?"
"We're waiting for your cousin's friends, and Yotsuba's volley team captain," Nino explained, looking at the timer on her phone. "They'd better hurry, the boat's departing in two hours."
"Sorry I'm late, traffic wasn't helping."
Right then, one of the aforementioned arrived on cue. Takeda was coming at them steadily and greeted them. He carried his own suitcase, a little bit bigger than the rest (Fuutarou wondered what he could have packed to need one of that size).
"Hey, weren't you in the school trip last year?" said Kintarou, shaking hands with the new arrival. "Good to see you again."
"Same here," Takeda replied kindly. "I appreciate the invite, although it wasn't easy to convince my father to let me come. He only relented when I told him I would finish my schoolwork before going back."
"Heh, I see my cousin isn't the only nerd here," Kintarou mocked. "Really, Fuutarou, can't you stop thinking about studying for a bit?"
"Don't come asking for help, if you haven't done your homework when we come back," the aforementioned replied, shrugging again.
Fuutarou saw Takeda simply snickering at the comment, and briefly exchanged looks with Miku, who waved at him. Around them more and more people began to gather; it seemed this year's summer would be pretty crowded, so he opened his eyes to take a look for any sign of Maeda or Matsui.
His phone vibrated with a message notification, which came from Maeda telling him he and Matsui would be arriving the station soon. As they waited, he saw Itsuki scrolling through photos in her phone, and couldn't help but feel curious.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Oh, some photos of the place we'll be staying at," Itsuki replied, zooming in so he could see better. "Do you want to take a look?"
Fuutarou nodded and took a glance at the photos. The house looked pretty good from the outside, despite looking like a typical wooden summer house, if somewhat bigger compared to others he'd visited a couple times. When he saw the inside, the living room had a huge flat TV and very comfy-looking chairs, a fully equipped kitchen with two large fridges, and even a basement with a game room. The house even had its own electricity generator to power all appliances, including Wi-Fi connection to keep in touch with their families.
Besides, there was a small dock outside storing rowboats, motorboats and even a pair of jet skis. Since his cousin had left his bike behind, he'd probably love to ride one of those when they were there.
"The place looks pretty good," Fuutarou noted. "Have you been here before?"
"This one? No, but Dad had rented us a summer house before. A bit smaller, of course, since it was only for us five."
Fuutarou figured he shouldn't be too surprised: if the man could afford a luxury apartment like the one in the Pentagon building, renting a summer house like this surely had to be within his possibilities too. Hell, maybe he could even buy it if he wanted to.
"And I guess we'll have to split the housework and keep everything clean, right?" Fuutarou asked.
"That's the deal," Itsuki nodded. "As for me, I have no problem with that at all."
Fuutarou didn't have it either, although they'd have to organize well with such a big house. After all, they'd be staying for two full weeks. Another potential issue could be the food, although he supposed the fridges would probably be filled with everything they needed. Even if someone tried to assault them for a midnight snack, but he wouldn't mention that in front of Itsuki.
"Ah, look, Matsui and Maeda made it!" Yotsuba suddenly said, and began jumping and waving her hands to get their attention. "Heeey, this way, Matsui!"
The two aforementioned quickly arrived running. Fuutarou could see the bandage on Matsui's elbow as she dragged Maeda with her other arm.
"Thanks for waiting," said Matsui. "Sorry we're late, we had to make a last-minute stop on our way here."
"Why is that?" Yotsuba asked.
Before Matsui answered, Maeda spoke up for her. "Someone forgot to pack her swimsuit, and only remembered when we were on the bus. We had to stop by a store to buy her one."
"Oi, you didn't complain while I was trying it, did you?" she pointed, making him turn away blushing slightly.
"Well, well, we're all here now," said Ichika. "Now we just need to stick together in the train and go to the harbor."
"Yeah, now is when our summer vacation really begins!" Yotsuba exclaimed as she raised her fist up in the air.
Everyone seconded her and without wasting any more time, they all grabbed their baggage and headed to board the train. Their little summer trip was about to start at long last.
…
Not many things happened during the train, although due to the large number of passengers, they were forced to hold hands to avoid getting lost among the crowds and not get off on the wrong station. At one point, Fuutarou was so compressed that people pushed him against a pair of soft pillows pressing his back until they could get off, and they had to snap fingers in front of his eyes to wake him up from the shock.
Fortunately, the ferry taking them to the island would be just for them, and the trip was a lot more pleasant than the train ride. The marine breeze, and the sea expanding in front of them was a very relaxing environment, and if the island was the same, it would be the perfect scenery for both studying and resting.
Fuutarou saw the couples who came to the trip didn't want to waste a second of the trip. Kintarou and Nino had begun to talk and laugh together, while Maeda seemed to be trying to cast some sort of 'spell' on Matsui's bandaged elbow to heal it faster. To be honest, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous, as he would like to be like that, even if he didn't say it out loud. They seemed to have moved forward in their relationships, while he seemed back to square one.
As this was a summer trip, some would think it would be the perfect chance for a romantic approach. But Fuutarou wondered if it would be appropriate to do something like that at this point. Yotsuba seemed to be recovering and looked cheery and energetic, as he loved to see her, but was she ready? Better yet, was he ready to take that step?
'Better not think of that,' he told himself. 'Maybe, I should distract my mind for a while.'
Yeah, that would be better, to keep his mind busy so as to keep those inappropriate thoughts away.
"Land ahoy! We've almost arrived!" Yotsuba suddenly announced, standing on the ferry's prow.
"Oh, that's our destination?" Kintarou asked. "Looks pretty good even from here."
"Trust me, you'll love it even more when we're there."
Even if he didn't show it outwardly, Fuutarou was excited as well. The place did look nice, as expected from a vacation island. It was a unique chance in many ways, and part of him almost regretted having to use part of his time to study. Almost.
The ten teenagers got off on the dock, and they were given the keys to the place. They headed to look at it for the first time, and those who had never seen a vacation house like this in their lives took their time to let the image in front of them sink in.
"Wow… and here I thought your apartment was huge," said Kintarou.
"No kidding, this is bigger than I expected," Maeda observed. "I bet it could swallow my entire neighborhood!"
"I knew you girls had a lot of money, but…" said Matsui, addressing Yotsuba.
"Dad's the one footing the bill," said the fourth sister. "Well, it's time to see the inside, let's go!"
The house looked even better inside than in the photos. It had four bedrooms, and they'd have to split them in pairs to sleep two in each. Although Nino clearly wanted to share her room with Kintarou (something he didn't object to), everyone else voted against allowing a boy and a girl stay in the same room, much to the second sister's annoyance. Matsui and Maeda had no objections to this, accepting that it was a reasonable limit, tempting as it may be for some.
So the rooms were split this way: Ichika with Miku, Itsuki with Nino, Yotsuba with Matsui, Maeda with Takeda, and Fuutarou with Kintarou. Fortunately, the bedrooms were very similar amongst each other, so there was no reason to fight for them, except maybe for the twin beds and who would sleep on the upper or lower one. Fuutarou sincerely didn't care, and decided to take the lower one as he didn't want to take chances to roll out in his sleep and fall on the wooden floor.
After unpacking and establishing themselves in their rooms, the next step was to assign the turns for cleaning up. Again, there wasn't much issue with this, as they agreed that someone would get up early to clean in the morning, and someone else would take over for the afternoon. Of course, there was the unspoken rule that anyone who made a mess, whether it was accidental or deliberate, would have to clean it him/herself. After all, part of the deal to stay here was leaving the house in the same condition as when they arrived.
Now, however, the group of teenagers was facing another problem. Specifically, a little disagreement among them about what to do next.
"You can't be serious, Cous," said Kintarou. "We've just arrived and you want to study?"
"Is there a problem?" Fuutarou replied, holding his books and notebooks. "We're supposed to finish the summer work while we're here, or did you forget?"
"Yeah, but does it have to be today?" the blond asked, still in disbelief. "It won't hurt to wait until tomorrow to start the homework."
"Kintarou-kun's right," Nino seconded. "Today the weather is incredible, we should hit the beach and have fun, who wants to study?"
"That's true, Fuutarou-kun," said Ichika. "Why not forgetting about studying just for today? Even you should relax for a bit."
Fuutarou wanted to sigh. He couldn't help but concede Ichika's point, but old habits died pretty hard. He felt he couldn't be at ease until he was done with the schoolwork, and in any case he still doubted he could have fun while he still had pending stuff to do.
That, and he needed to keep his mind busy to keep certain thoughts away too.
"No offense, I'd like to finish too," Itsuki intervened. "Uesugi-kun promised to help me with some Math problems I didn't get, and I'd rather get over them quickly."
"Aw, you too, Itsuki?" Nino frowned. "What a party pooper, who wants to study during summer?"
"There, there, Nino." Ichika tried to calm her down. "Let's decide by vote, shall we? Those in favor of studying?"
Fuutarou and Itsuki immediately raised their hands. So did Takeda and, surprisingly enough, Miku. Fuutarou looked at Yotsuba, who looked undecided, but didn't quite raise her own hand.
"Those in favor of going to the beach right now?" Ichika continued, raising her own hand. Nino, Kintarou, Matsui and Maeda immediately followed.
Everyone stared at Yotsuba, who still looked undecided. The ribbon girl looked at Fuutarou, and then to the rest of the group who wanted to go to the beach, and with a slightly trembling smile, she finally raised her own hand after a few seconds.
"Sorry, Uesugi-san," she said. "But the truth is, I don't feel like studying today. Really, the weather is beautiful today, I wouldn't like to stay inside."
Fuutarou sighed, but even then he couldn't help but give the girl a smile of resignation. Maybe she felt a little guilty for not staying to study with him, but if she didn't want to, he would not force her. And then again, maybe it was better to keep some distance between them.
"Alright, suit yourself," she said. "But don't come at me at the last minute."
"Alright, enough of this arguing nonsense," said Nino. "Let's go get changed, the beach awaits!"
The six who decided to have fun rushed to their rooms, while Fuutarou and the others headed for the living room with their books and notebooks to start studying. Part of him was happy about not staying alone in the house, as it would have been very embarrassing if that were the case. At least he wouldn't stand out as the only "brainiac" in the group.
On the other hand, he was a bit surprised that Yotsuba had chosen to go have fun with the others. Maybe, part of him hoped, or rather wished she would stay too. Her company was always nice, regardless if they were studying or having fun.
'But that's fine,' he thought. 'I would hate that she stays to study when she doesn't want to, or worse, that she does it just for me.'
Better finish this quickly, so they would have plenty of time to spend together. He wasn't planning on wasting another summer studying more than necessary, after all.
A bit later, at the beach…
The group who decided to hit the beach wasn't wasting a moment. The girls had put on their bikinis and the boys their shorts, and they'd started playing with a volleyball match. Matsui lamented not being able to play due to her elbow injury, so instead she and Maeda went on their own and now he was pushing her in a small improvised swing nearby. They seemed to be content with that.
On one side of the net were Yotsuba and Ichika, while Nino and Kintarou stood on the other. This more or less balanced both teams, as the blond was far more athletic than his cousin, although it was clear he had almost no experience playing volleyball.
"Here goes!" Ichika jumped up for a spike.
Kintarou dove to catch it, managing to bump the ball up for Nino who set it for him. The blond stood up and immediately rushed to spike. Yotsuba managed to do a defensive block, which Ichika immediately set for another spike.
"Eiii!" the fourth sister exclaimed as she struck the ball hard, stamping it on the corner and giving them the point.
"Nice spike, Yotsuba!" said Ichika as they high-fived. "Now we're just one point away from winning."
"Don't celebrate yet!" said Nino. "C'mon, Kintarou-kun, we can't let them beat us!"
"I'm here with you, Nino!" the blond replied, getting into position and preparing to receive.
Ichika picked up the ball and went behind the line, getting ready to restart. She did a jump serve which, while not as powerful as Yotsuba's, quickly put the couple under warning, as Nino was the closest one and had to receive it first. Rather than set it up, Kintarou chose to attack in Ichika's direction, who dove after the ball but couldn't catch it. Now they were just one point behind, but it was still a match point for Yotsuba and Ichika, who just had to score once more to win, while Kintarou and Nino still needed to tie and overturn the score.
The second sister headed to do her own serve, which Ichika received without problems. Yotsuba set the ball for her to spike, but Kintarou blocked it. Fortunately, Yotsuba was able to dive behind Ichika to catch it, although the force caused it to go up too high above them.
"Ichika!" Yotsuba cried out, remaining kneeled and placing her hands together as if trying to pick something up.
"Here I go!"
Without much thought, the eldest sister ran at Yotsuba, placing her foot on top of her sister's hands to use them as a stepping stone. To the astonished looks of Kintarou and Nino, Ichika was lifted by Yotsuba to an altitude where trying to block her was useless, and she could spike the ball and score the winning point for them. Although her landing was a bit harsh, they'd won the match.
"Yay! We won! Great spike, Ichika!" Yotsuba cheered.
"I wouldn't have done it without you," Ichika said as she stood up and high-fived with her again.
"Ah, dang!" Nino gave a furious kick to the sand and pouted. "I can't believe we lost!"
"C'mon, Nino, calm down. At least they beat us with style, I would say," Kintarou said trying to cheer her up. "It was a good match, I admit it."
"Nice play," Matsui said as she and Maeda came over. "Though I hope you're not thinking about using it in an official match. That would be illegal, and dangerous too."
"Heh, but we're not playing an official match, are we?" Yotsuba pointed. "We were just having some fun here."
Matsui chuckled, apparently giving the point. Maeda suggested they could smash the watermelons they brought along, to which Nino and Kintarou agreed. Meanwhile, Ichika headed where they had the rest of their stuff to pick up a water bottle. She grabbed a second to toss it to Yotsuba, and the two sat for a bit to rest after the match, watching the two couples.
To make it more interesting, the two girls blindfolded their respective boyfriends' eyes, and began to guide them and see who managed to smash the watermelon first. It was fun to see how the boys tumbled around in disorientation as they held their bats. Matsui seemed to be more successful guiding Maeda on the right track, while Nino got irritated when Kintarou went much further than necessary or sometimes in the wrong direction (it almost seemed deliberate), to the point she stood up and tried to push him, only for the two to end up tripping and falling one on top of the other, causing the others to laugh. At the end, even Nino herself said she wasn't uncomfortable in that position.
"Those two seem to get along pretty well, don't you think?" Ichika asked.
"I'm a bit jealous," said Yotsuba.
She then glanced in the direction of the house, where Fuutarou and the others would still probably be doing their homework. Ichika didn't need quintuplet telepathy to know what Yotsuba was thinking at the moment.
"You'd like to do that with Fuutarou-kun, right?"
"Eh? No, I don't… it's not yet…"
"Just kidding," Ichika said, noticing how Yotsuba began to panic. "I know you're taking it easy right now."
"Even so… I'm a little annoyed he didn't want to come and have fun with us," the fourth sister admitted.
"And what will you do about it?"
Yotsuba turned towards Ichika. The question caught her off-guard, but it was obvious what was going through the minds of both. They still hadn't managed to change that mindset of his about studying too much, and it was obvious it wouldn't be easy.
"Because I can imagine you want to do something, don't you?"
"Yeah, but… I don't want him to get mad at me. I know studying is important for him, but these days he seems to forget about relaxing," Yotsuba replied, a little hesitant.
"Well, sometimes we just need a little push in the right direction," Ichika continued. "You must know that well, don't you?"
Yotsuba squinted her eyes. That was a slightly low blow, but she would let it slide since she was right. She'd needed many pushes, the last of which had been quite hard, to find her path back when she'd been lost.
"So then… what do you think I should do?" Yotsuba inquired.
"Uh-uh, don't ask me for help there, sis," Ichika wagged her finger. "Use your head and figure it out yourself."
"Oi, don't be so mean," the fourth sister protested. "You know how I can still be an idiot for some things."
"Come on, it's not that hard," said Ichika. "If you think about it, this situation isn't that different from when you met again last year. Why don't you try to do the same you did then?"
Yotsuba turned towards Ichika again, not getting what she meant at first. But after giving it some thought, she began slowly to connect the dots. When they met again, Fuutarou was totally obsessed with studying, so she took the initiative and proposed they did something different. Do some exercise to get him in shape, go out for a jog and hit the gym. At first he wasn't thrilled, but over time it seemed he'd grown to enjoy it.
Sure, she was just trying to find an excuse to spend time together, but she also sought to cheer his life a little bit. And the boy now had better stamina and was capable of keeping up much longer with her, which was a side benefit.
And now, he was again focusing on studying, despite the fact they'd come here to relax and have fun. They were on the summer break after all!
"Do the same… no, I think I should do something else this time," said Yotsuba.
"Oh? Something like what?" an intrigued Ichika asked.
"Haha, sorry, I'm not telling you," the fourth sister replied. "But, I've just thought of an excellent idea to get Uesugi-san away from studying for a while."
The fourth sister raised a fist with determination as she stared at the sky. She was so focused on her idea she didn't see the piece of watermelon flying at her and splashing her, dripping the juice all over her chest.
"Hey, watch it!" she called out.
"Sorry, Yotsuba!" It was Kintarou who apologized. Apparently, he and Maeda thought it would be much funnier trying to smash the watermelons playing baseball with them, and the blond went a little overboard when he batted his.
Yotsuba wiped off the smear as she could, but she wouldn't get mad. It was an accident after all, and besides, the piece of watermelon that fell on her didn't taste so bad, so it wasn't a waste.
In any case, she already had a good idea of what to do. She'd make sure these summer vacations would be unforgettable, for herself and Fuutarou.
To be continued…
Author's notes:
Well, well, people, I'm finally back with the quints! The special episodes no doubt helped me regain my spark, although with how busy my last weeks of the term at the university were (note to self: never try to fit so many classes in a single day, ever again), the progress was quite slow. But well, what matters now is that I could retake it, and I finally got to an arc I was very much looking forward to write, for many reasons.
I know it's very typical to have in slice-of-life stories, especially romantic comedies, a chapter or episode at the beach or at the pool just as an excuse to put fanservice with the characters. And I will freely admit it's a guilty pleasure of mine, but here I want to use it as more than just self-indulgence. I'd like to use it as a chance to get the characters closer, and not just the protagonists but also the other couples who came along to give them some spotlight. I had several ideas planned and now that I have time, I'll try to pick up the pace to move forward this arc as much as I can. In fact, I've already written a full scene between Fuutarou and Yotsuba that I had been planning since I began the story, and originally I would have it on this chapter, but it stretched out too much and since I kept getting stuck, I decided to move it to the next. The good thing is, that means I have some material for the next, so if everything goes well, I'll be back to a regular schedule soon.
Anyway, this brings this chapter to a close. Thanks for the reviews to Meckee and guest, and special thanks to Shadechu Nightray for her continued help as a beta. See you all next time, sayonara!