Chapter 14:

The Storm on the Horizon

After parting ways with Yotsuba, I made my way home as quickly as I could. When I finally arrived, my dad was sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea. Raiha was sitting across from him, cross-legged on the floor. As soon as I walked into the main room, I could immediately tell that my little sister was anxious. My dad, on the other hand, seemed even more relaxed than usual.

"Hey, kid. Come sit down."

Apprehensively, I walked over to the table, and sat down next to Raiha.

"Dad, what's going on...?"

My dad wordlessly took a long sip of his tea. Raiha leaned over to me, and whispered in my ear.

"He's been doing that every time I ask him that for the last hour."

"Wow. Obnoxious," I muttered back to her. "This is either really bad, or it's-"

"Now then," my father said, interrupting me. "Hear ye, hear ye! I've gathered you both here today for a family announcement."

I narrowed my eyes at his tone.

It's definitely a good thing. He's being way too friggin' dramatic for it to be a bad thing.

"You know how I got that promotion?"

"...Yes, I do recall that happening," I said drily.

"Well," my dad said, rubbing his finger under his nose like he was some anime character who was supremely pleased with himself, "corporate have decided they want me to have a lil' more training, so they're paying to send me to a one-week workshop on management and leadership!"

"Go dad!" Raiha cheered.

I blinked. "That's great, but why did that warrant a fami-"

"Anyways," my dad said, punctuating each syllable, "the issue is that the workshop isn't in Nagoya. It's in Tokyo."

A pause.

"I see."

"For a week."

"...Ah."

I was starting to see the issue. Raiha, on the other hand, didn't.

"That sounds like a fun trip! Make sure to bring some souvenirs!"

My dad locked eyes with me. "You get it, right?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I do. Don't worry, I can handle it. When do they want you to go?"

"This coming Wednesday."

I blinked, and then my eyes widened.

Oh shit.

I slammed my hands down on the table, a sudden burst of anger coursing through me. "Are you serious?! That's such short notice!"

My dad shrugged. "There's not much I can do, y'know kid? Sometimes, things happen on short notice. Opportunities comes first to the prepared, and those who are willing to take the initiative. I need to take this opportunity by the horns."

"It's for a week right? So you wouldn't be back until the first day of midterms!"

"Yes."

I leaned back, and rubbed my temples, my anger still bubbling below the surface. "This is terrible timing."

"I know. I'm sorry, kid."

Raiha was looking back and forth between the two of us, confusion written all over her face.

"What are you talking about? Why would Dad going to Tokyo for a week be a problem if the company is paying for it?"

My dad reached over and tousled her hair, which just made her scowl at him.

"It's not a problem, kiddo. Problem is way too strong of a word. This just throws a wrench in Fuutarou's plans for the next week and a half, which is something I feel pretty badly about."

Raiha blinked, pulling her head out from under my dad's hand to stare at him directly. "I don't get it. Did you two have plans?"

The two of us shared a look, and then I sighed, my frustration temporarily receding at the innocent look on Raiha's face. "You remember how I was planning to spend pretty much every day between now and midterms studying with Yotsuba at her and her sisters' apartment?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"If Dad's in Tokyo, I can't do that."

Raiha frowned. "Why not?"

I glanced at my dad.

Help, I indicated silently.

My wordless plea seemed to have been received, because my dad took up the explanation from there.

"Raiha, you're an eleven year old girl. You're very responsible for your age, but you're still too young to be left basically alone for a week. After all, I still take you to and from school every day, because it's too far for you to walk, and I'm not comfortable having you take the bus alone yet. Also, the only reason I'm ok with taking all these late shifts at work is because I know Fuutarou will be here to keep an eye on you - you're only on your own for a few hours at most."

Raiha seemed absolutely shocked at this assessment.

"I... I'm the problem?"

"Like I said, problem is too strong of a word, kiddo. It's just a reality of life as a parent... and as an older brother. There are certain things you can't do because there are people who depend on you."

Raiha looked back and forth between him and me, her lower lip trembling slightly. Then, she sighed. "I guess... I feel really bad though! I didn't want to get in the way of Onii-chan's date."

I frowned. "It wasn't a date to begin with."

Then I turned to my dad, my anger still bubbling below the surface. "This puts me in a real bind, Dad. I can't drop my plans with Yotsuba. If I abandon her here, she'll fail. To be honest, I'm not convinced she won't fail even if I give it my all - but I don't want to just consign her to her fate."

My dad frowned. "I mean, when you put it like that..."

Then he shook his head. "Look, if you make sure that Raiha isn't left alone for crazy long periods of time, I'm fine with you continuing with your plans. But you can't be leaving her alone for four or five hours straight every evening. If you can find a way around that barrier, then everything's fine. Regardless, though, you need to be there for your sister."

My anger slowly receded at the olive branch that my father was offering me. I slowly leaned back, and noted that Raiha was looking at me with a worried expression on her face.

"I guess there is one solution," I mused.

"What's that?"

"I could take Raiha with me to the Nakanos' apartment, and-"

"Vetoed."

I widened my eyes in surprise at the speed with which my Dad shot down the idea. Raiha frowned as well.

"But Dad, I'd get to hang out with Yotsuba-nee-chan, and I'd make sure to not be in the way! I feel bad that I'm going to ruin Onii-chan's plans..."

My dad shook his head. "First of all, it was me, not you. Don't blame yourself. I need to be clear though - that's not a good solution."

"...Why not?" I asked, furrowing my brow, my annoyance temporarily replaced by confusion.

"Look, kid," my dad said. "I'm gonna be blunt about this. You're brilliant at academics and problem solving, but social skills have never been your strongest quality. Even before you became a studying addict, you didn't have good social awareness. So I'm going to lay it out for you."

I was moderately offended to hear it stated so plainly, but a small part of my brain was whispering at me: He's right, you know.

Annoyed, I contented myself with just sending a scathing glare.

"Ok, fine," I grumbled. "Explain it to me."

My dad sighed. "You can't ask acquaintances to watch your kid sister for tens of hours over the course of a week for you. Hell, I'm not even sure I would be comfortable with doing that with a close friend."

I frowned. "What, do you not trust them?"

"It's not about trust, kid! It's rude! It's really, really rude! It's a massive imposition!"

That pulled me up in my tracks. My relationship with Yotsuba was such that I never really thought about politeness or rudeness... but an image of Nino scowling at me flared in my head, and I realized that, no matter how cute Raiha was, having her present in the house for dozens of hours over the course of a week would be the sort of thing that would upset Nino... and possibly her other sisters too.

Actually, as much as she likes her... that might not go over well with Yotsuba either. It's one thing to have a friend over a ton... it's another thing to have the friend's little sister knocking around for hours on end.

I growled and put my head in my hands. "Ok, I'll need to think of a solution. I can't just abandon her, but I've also got to make sure Raiha is taken care of."

"Please don't talk about me like I'm not here," Raiha suddenly said quietly.

I looked up, and saw that she had a deep frown on her face. A sudden pang of guilt ran through my chest.

"Sorry, Raiha," I said, frowning. "My bad."

"It's ok. I just... I want to be part of the solution. I'm sorry for not being older."

I leaned over and gave Raiha a hug with one arm. Her eyes widened at the uncharacteristically straightforward display of affection.

"You're not allowed to apologize for that, or anything involving this. It's my responsibility as your brother. You haven't done a single thing wrong."

Raiha looked up at me, a small smile returning to her face, and then I smirked.

"Well, recently, anyways."

"Onii-chan!"

"Anyways," my dad said, getting up, a hint of a laugh on his lips, "in apology, I'll cook dinner tonight. You kids sit tight. You have almost a week to figure out what to do - you don't have to decide tonight."

He started to walk over to the kitchen - but paused when he noticed that Raiha and I were both looking at him in apprehension.

"Dad," Raiha said delicately, "...don't you remember what happened last time you tried to cook dinner?"

"I think the ceiling still has the smoke stains," I said much less gently, glancing up at the spot over the stove. "Yep, they're definitely still there."

"Oof, you wound me, kids," he said, frowning. "That was me experimenting with flambé. I promise not to set anything on fire this time."

He turned, and went into the kitchen. Hesitantly, Raiha and I sat back on the floor in our respective spots at the table as my dad made dinner. About twenty minutes later, a passable-looking stir-fry was placed before us. The vegetables seemed... fine?

As I tentatively pulled the food upward to put it in my mouth, Raiha suddenly started coughing, and then doubled over, her forehead flat on the floor.

"Eh? Raiha, are you alright?!"

My sister looked up at me, tears streaming down her face.

"S...spicy..."

I turned back to my meal. Now that I noticed it, there was some sort of sauce that seemed to be coating the food. Apprehensively, I slowly lifted a bit to my mouth and, mustering my courage, I put the food in my mouth. At first, it seemed fine - just a little salty perhaps...

Within fifteen seconds, I was in the exact same position as Raiha.

"Huh? You guys are being dramatic! Come on, I didn't make it that spicy!"

"D-Dad..." I coughed out, "W-What is this stuff?"

"Oh," he said, pondering. "I got my first paycheque after my pay raise, so I went shopping today, and decided to splurge a bit on spices! I made a sauce out of it. I believe this one is called..."

He turned around and went into the kitchen, and read the package.

"Ka-i-e-nu. Not sure what it is, but I figured I'd give it a try!"

"Please let me see that," I said weakly. He handed me the hefty package of spice, and I groaned as I looked at the label.

"Dad, that says cayenne. How much did you use?!"

My dad stared at me blankly. "Three scoops with the biggest measuring cup? I didn't think about it too much. One for each of us!"

I got up and stumbled my way over to the kitchen, my mouth on fire. I pulled out the largest measuring cup we had, and looked down at it.

250 ml (1 cup).

I immediately opened the fridge, clumsily poured myself a large glass of milk, and chugged the whole thing within about two seconds. Then, I did it again.

"Hey!" my dad complained. "That's a waste of milk!"

I poured a third glass, walked shakily over to where my sister was now curled up in the fetal position, and rolled her over onto her back. I slowly helped her drink the milk from the cup, and her face seemed to relax a little bit. Raiha opened her eyes and weakly gazed up at me.

"O...nii-chan... avenge... me..."

Then, her head lolled to the side, and she moved no more. I slowly lowered her to the floor, tears rolling down my face as I was faced with the horrid fate that had befallen my sister.

"Don't worry, Raiha. I'll make sure to bury you somewhere nice," I said quietly. "Your death will not have been in vain."

"Oh, come on! It isn't THAT bad!" my dad complained.

"YES IT IS!", we both yelled in unison, Raiha propping herself up on one elbow to make her feelings heard.

My dad scowled. "I'll show you both."

Grumpily, he leaned over to his own bowl, and shovelled a huge load of the stuff into his mouth. He chewed, he swallowed, and then he stared at us both smugly.

Then, he was also on the floor, tears streaming down his face.

In the face of the devastation wrought by the dish, we ended up deciding to put the food in a community compost bin. After she'd sufficiently recovered, Raiha took over cooking duties, and my father was exiled into the night to deliver the ruined food. Normally, I would have insisted on us finishing it anyways so as not to waste money, but my dad declared that it wasn't safe - in his words, "an unprecedented evil."

I glanced at a clock, and grimaced when I saw that it was already 6:30. I pulled out my phone, and sent an e-mail to Yotsuba.

{Hey, my dad kept me longer than I wanted. May be there closer to 7:30. Sorry.}

A few minutes later, my phone buzzed in response.

{All good. Is everything alright?}

I pondered for a moment, glanced at Raiha, and then typed back:

{Unsure at present. Will evaluate and update.}

{Beep Boop. Re-ceived. Yotsuba Model 428 will lodge this information in her memory banks, and pro-ceed accordingly. Beep Boop!}

I snorted. Come on, it wasn't that robotic of a thing to say, was it?

My dad took a surprisingly long time to get back - by the time he did, Raiha had already finished dinner version two. He seemed shifty, his eyes not quite making contact with mine. As he sat, I watched him, my eyes narrowed. Raiha placed the food in front of us, and I slowly lifted it to my mouth.

She had made another stir-fry, but this one seemed much more devoid of desire to destroy my sinuses. I glanced over at her. "This is delicious, Raiha."

"Thanks! Guess how much cayenne I put in!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Zero?"

"Actually, I used a tiny amount, just a pinch of it. Betcha couldn't tell!"

"No, I couldn't" I marvelled. "This doesn't taste like the foodstuff of Beelzebub at all!"

"Hey," growled my dad, "I know it was spicy, but please don't imply I made a deal with the devil."

"You didn't?"

"No, the lady at the store who gave me the fifteen-percent off coupon was very nice. Not demonic at all."

I snorted. "Great, Dad's making deals with she-devils now."

"Hey, that's rude kid."

I shrugged. "Anyways, I really need to go. I originally promised Yotsuba I'd be there for seven o'clock, and I'm going to be late for the revised time I gave her. Thanks for the food, Raiha."

I got up and washed my bowl out, and then grabbed my bag, threw on my jacket, and made for the door.

"Ah, hold on there a second, kid."

I turned back to look at my dad, my eyebrow raised.

"Take this with you."

My dad got up, and grabbed something from by the door into the main room. He walked over, and handed me a small shopping bag from a nearby supermarket. I looked down at it, then looked back up at him quizzically.

"Dad, this... had better not be what I think it is."

"Huh?" he said, furrowing his brow. "What would you - oh, hah! Yeah, I would do that, wouldn't I? No, it's not..."

He leaned in a bit closer, so Raiha couldn't hear.

"No, it's not protection. You're seventeen, you're old enough to get that stuff yourself. Nah, I figured if you're going to be spending so much time over there, you can at the very least give them a present. You said that one of the girls... what was her name? Nina?"

"Nino."

"Right, her. You said she likes to cook, right? I went to the supermarket and grabbed an assortment of spices. I also grabbed some coffee syrups. Not sure what else would be good, but it's always polite to bring a gift if you're invited somewhere, y'know?"

I stared down at the bag, now dumbfounded in a different way. I then looked up at him, and silently nodded.

Despite the way he is... my dad can be pretty thoughtful, huh?

"Alright, well, I've said my piece. You know you need to find a solution for this situation, but hopefully that makes it a bit easier. Have a good time!"

"Thanks," I said, a font of affection welling up for my father.

"Also, if you do need protection, I put a lil' something in your wallet!"

"God damn it, dad!" I yelled, and closed the door. I could hear him laughing his head off inside as I marched away, my face warm in the cool October air. I checked my wallet as I waited for the bus, and sure enough, there was a present waiting for me inside. Scowling, I closed the thing and shut my eyes.

Why does absolutely nobody in my life believe me about this romance thing?!

Then I frowned.

I guess you technically don't need romance to engage in the biological act...

I shook my head.

Stupid. The distraction from studying involved is equivalent. Forget about it.

The bus arrived, and before long I was standing at the base of the Pentagon, staring up at its looming mass. I checked the time on my phone, and saw with relief that I still had a few minutes to spare before I was late. Well, I was already late, but if I was late for my revised time, that would have made me extra late.

I walked over to the panel, and tentatively put in the number for the Nakanos' apartment. There were a few moments of ringing, and then a familiar voice rang out from the speakers.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me."

"Oh no, is this the classic 'hey, it's me' scam?"

I scowled, even though I knew she couldn't see my face.

"Who tries that at a house? Also, the 'hey, it's me' scam doesn't work that well if you can't see the person."

"Not sure that one's true, but it is what it is. I'll choose to trust you this time. I'll ring you in, Fuutarou-kun. It'll just be our secret, ok?"

There was a buzz, and then the door opened, but I just stared at the intercom system as it went dead.

"Fuutarou-kun?" I said out loud.

I stepped inside, and walked over to the marble-floored elevator, my eyes unfocused as my thoughts turned inwards, trying to analyze and piece together this new development. Absently, I pushed the button for the thirtieth floor, and the metal box began to rise.

Either Yotsuba has suddenly decided to change how she calls me, or that wasn't Yotsuba. The voice sounded almost exactly the same though.

I frowned.

Was that Ichika trying to confuse me? She's the only one who calls me 'Fuutarou-kun'. But on the other hand, how would she even have known it was me before I spoke? I guess she knew I was coming... Ugh, I'm so confused.

I could feel a dull pain growing behind my eyes, but I was pretty sure that was just because of the evening's antics, and not due to any mental stress. Finally, the elevator dinged, and I was let out onto the thirtieth floor. For the second time, I found the door with the Nakanos' name on it in golden letters, and opened it wide.

"Ah! Uesugi-san, you're here!"

Definitely Ichika then.

Yotsuba bounded over to me, a grin on her face.

"Look, look! I've got a fantastic spread almost as great as last time!"

I looked over at the coffee table to see that, indeed, Yotsuba had managed to deck out the whole thing with dips and chips. It was slightly less elaborate than the previous time, but no less heartfelt.

"Wow, that's... certainly opulent."

"Heh heh, indeed! I am the queen of the spread, and of the dip!" Yotsuba said, a triumphant smirk plastered across her face. "Come in, come in!"

I took off my shoes, and looked around the apartment. Nino was doing dishes, and paused to give me a death-glare... though it felt a bit more perfunctory than before. Or perhaps that was my imagination. Sitting on the couches next to the coffee table was Ichika, holding a mug filled with some kind of beverage. She had a giant knitted sweater on, and looked supremely comfortable. As I made eye contact, she gave me a lazy half-smile. I didn't see Itsuki or Miku anywhere in the apartment.

"Eh, Uesugi-san, what are you holding?"

I started, and looked down at my hand.

"Oh, right - my dad wanted me to send our regards to all of you."

I handed it with both hands to Yotsuba with a slight bow. She seemed surprised, but after a moment shrugged and took it. I stepped into the room, and we both sat down at the coffee table. Yotsuba opened the bag, and pulled out the items that my dad had bought.

"Oooh, I want dibs on the coffee syrups," Ichika said, leaning over to look. "I bet Itsuki will like these too."

"One of them is 'birthday cake' flavoured," Yotsuba said, staring down at it. "How does a birthday cake taste different from a regular cake?"

"Festivity?" I suggested, and she snorted. Then, she raised her hand before her dramatically, like she was giving a Shakespearean soliloquy.

"Gathered scientists, we are excited to announce the newest results in gastronomy! In addition to the five commonly known tastes, we at the Nagoya Institute of Tasting Stuff have discovered a sixth taste! On top of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami, the human experience will be enriched by one more!"

Then she winked, and snapped dramatically to make finger guns.

"Bein' hella happy!"

I chuckled despite myself. Then, a hand reached over Yotsuba's shoulder, and plucked the assorted spices out of the bag.

"Let me have a look at this."

We all turned around to see Nino inspecting the box of spices. I saw one of her eyebrows slowly rise as she read the list, and then she nodded.

"Well, Uesugi, it looks like at least someone in your family understands cooking. I'll make good use of these. I might even let you have one small bite."

Smirking, she took the box and opened it in the kitchen. Inside were about twenty different small containers of spices. Nino set herself to organizing them and was soon busy reading about how the different spices combined to create different flavour combinations. After a few minutes, she started humming to herself with a surprisingly innocent smile on her face.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that my dad was a bigger idiot than I was when it came to making food.

He probably just asked the sales person for advice.

I glanced back over at the two girls near me on the couch, and then shook my head.

"By the way, Yotsuba, I've got to say, I never realized before now how identical your voices are. When Ichika answered the buzzer, I totally thought it was you until she said my name."

Yotsuba laughed. "You've been my friend for over a month now, and you didn't notice that we all have the same voice and look the same? You know, you're a genius, but you can be kinda a dunce sometimes, Uesugi-san!"

I shrugged. "Fair enough. You just all have such different... I guess the best way to say it is tone, that I usually don't have trouble telling you apart when I can see your faces, and you're wearing your accessories. Over the intercom though..."

Ichika smiled deviously. "Sounds like we need to subject this young man to a quintuplets game, and put him in his place."

I frowned. "I don't know what that is, but I don't like the sound of 'put him in his place'."

Yotsuba shook her head. "That does sound like it would be really fun, but Uesugi-san and I need to get to studying. We've already lost a lot of time!"

Ichika pouted in that distinctly Ichika way. "Ah, fine. That's boring. Studying puts me to sleep, so I'm going to go..."

Then she paused.

"Wait, if I go for a nap, and studying puts me to sleep, aren't I just sleeping either way?"

"...Yes?"

"Hmm," she said. "In that case, I'd rather sleep without the lecture. See ya, Fuutarou-kun."

With that, she rose to her feet, finished off her drink, and seemed to almost glide over to the sink, where she washed out her cup, put it away, and then ascended the stairs. I watched her go with a scowl on my face.

"Eh? Uesugi-san, what's wrong?" Yotsuba asked.

"I wasn't planning on lecturing her anyways," I muttered quietly. "I'm here to help you."

Yotsuba smiled. "Ah, well, what can you do. Wanna get started?"

"Yeah, sure..."

Yotsuba and I shifted so that we were across the table from each other, her sitting on the floor on a pillow. I'd asked if she wanted the couch, but she declined almost immediately. We pulled out our notebooks, and Yotsuba pulled out the binder I'd given her earlier in the day. We diligently began to work, only occasionally interrupted by stray comments by Nino, who was completely enamoured with the spice kit, though she was doing her best (and failing) to hide it.

"Ah, Uesugi-san! I have a question about this bit!"

I leaned over the table to look down at her page upside-down.

"This word problem - I think I understand what it's trying to ask, but I don't get at all how to set up the equations for it! It says, 'You want to paint a house, which consists of a rectangle with a width of seven metres and a length of ten metres, and a triangle sitting on top of it. The triangle has a base of ten metres, and a height of five metres. What surface area do you need to paint?'"

I leaned back, and bit my lip, trying to think how best to explain it.

"Alright... let me ask you a couple of questions. I think you can probably figure out the answer on your own if I do."

"O-Ok! Roger!" Yotsuba said, saluting.

Seeing that, I leaned forward again. Suddenly...

"Private Yotsuba!" I barked

"Y-Yes!"

"What is the formula for the area of a rectangle?"

"The area of a rectangle is given by its length times its width! Sir!"

"Correct. You get a tortilla chip."

Yotsuba happily grabbed a tortilla chip, and started to put it in her mouth.

"Haaaaaalt!"

Yotsuba froze.

"Eh? What's wrong?!"

"Private Yotsuba!"

Yotsuba immediately straightened her shoulders.

"Y-Yes sir?!"

"What's the area of a triangle?"

"...Eh?!"

"You're about to eat a triangle. In order to eat the triangle, you must understand the triangle. And in order to understand the triangle, you must know the formula for the area of a triangle."

"Oh. That... makes sense? I think? Uhh... Oh! It's the base of the triangle, times the height of the triangle!"

"Close, but not quite."

Yotsuba scrunched up her face.

"Divided... by two?"

"Yes. So, you know the area of a rectangle, given its side lengths, and you know the area of a triangle, given its base and height. How can you find the area of a triangle on top of a rectangle, like this problem is asking for?"

"It's... oh! I see, it's just the area of the rectangle, plus the area of the triangle. So that makes it... ah! It's ninety-five metres squared!"

"Correct," I said, leaning back on the couch.

"Thanks, Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba said. Then she grinned, her eye-brows furrowing to give her a mischievous look. "Shi shi shi, I'm gonna earn that promotion in no time. You're gonna be dealing with a Corporal Yotsuba soon! I'm gonna go on the biggest power trip!"

"You're still a million years too early for that."

We both laughed at that. In the kitchen, I was pretty sure I heard Nino dramatically gag, but I just ignored her.

After about an hour of studying like this, I heard the sound of a door opening, and a star-spangled quintuplet came down the stairs. As Itsuki walked over to the washroom, she glanced over, and saw that we were studying at the coffee table. We made eye contact, she nodded to me, and then went inside.

When she came back out a few minutes later, she came over and stood next to the table.

"Is... is it alright if I join you for a bit?" She asked tentatively. I glanced over at Yotsuba, and was surprised to see a slightly apprehensive look on her face. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Yotsuba is the one who's being helped with studying right now, so I'm going to say it's up to her."

My ribboned friend seemed to think about it for a second, and then her eyes narrowed. "It's fine... as long as you're actually studying, and aren't just after my fantastic spread!"

Itsuki shiftily glanced to the side. "N...no, I just want to study! My intentions are totally pure. I definitely didn't want to get in on some of these dips..."

I raised an eyebrow.

Fascinating.

Itsuki temporarily retreated upstairs, and returned with her textbooks about a minute later. We shifted the fantastic spread (version two) to make room for her, and then continued to study. Perhaps out of respect for the fact that I had come primarily to help Yotsuba, Itsuki refrained from asking me too many questions - though I had the sense that she badly wanted to. There was something about the way she seemed to be on edge that suggested that she was dying to get help from somebody not named Second Place-san.

I respect her desire to do things on her own... but it's ok to ask for help as well occasionally.

A few hours later, Yotsuba leaned back and stretched. "Geez, studying is tiring! How do you do this for so many hours a day, Uesugi-san?"

"Sheer willpower," I responded absent-mindedly, flipping a page in my textbook. My hand was beginning to ache, but I ignored it.

"Why do you study so much anyways, Uesugi-kun?" Itsuki asked.

"Reasons," I replied, putting a salted cracker in my mouth.

"What are those reasons?" Itsuki asked again.

I swallowed the cracker, and then said "A complex array of psychological motivations stemming from events in my past."

"I asked what those reasons are, not what the definition of a reason is, Uesugi-kun!"

"I said what I said," I smirked, popping another snack in my mouth. "Yotsuba, you really out-did yourself this time, huh? These are great."

"Thanks!"

Then, Yotsuba frowned. "Oh yeah, that reminds me. Did you ever 'evaluate and update' if everything was alright earlier?"

Itsuki looked at her like she had two heads.

"Beep boop. Your query has not been completed. Beep boop." I said with a completely straight face. Itsuki looked at me, raised an eyebrow, and then shook her head.

"You're both so weird."

"Yes." I said. "But you knew that already."

I then turned back to Yotsuba. "Yeah, I was delayed because my dad wanted to talk to me. He's apparently going to Tokyo for a week starting on Wednesday, so I need to be home to watch Raiha. Unless we find some kind of solution, I'm not going to be able to study with you after school starting on Wednesday."

Yotsuba looked thunderstruck. "Wait... but..."

"So," I said emphatically, "we're going to find some kind of solution. I'm not going to abandon you, don't worry."

Yotsuba let out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh, phew! I had a mild heart attack there."

"Do you have any ideas for what we can do?"

Yotsuba pondered. "We could maybe have Raiha just hang out here while we study...?"

At the exact same time that I said "My dad vetoed that", Nino said "Hell no" from the kitchen. Yotsuba frowned at her sister.

"You don't even know Raiha! She's so cute!"

"Yeah, but I don't want some kid I don't know messing around here for like four hours at a time every day for an entire week. I don't need two Uesugis running all over the place."

"I'm pretty sure I'm sitting," I said mildly. "Anyways, that solution is, unfortunately, out."

"Hmm..." Yotsuba said. "Well then, I guess there's only one solution after all."

"What's that?"

"I guess we'll just have to study at your place! Then you can keep an eye on Raiha and we can get the studying done!"

A completely irrational bolt of panic went through me, and I found myself unconsciously seeking the eye of Itsuki, the only one in the room who knew of my circumstances. She met my eye, and I saw her glance at the balcony... and at how small it was. I thought back to my words to her a month before, when I had compared the size of our apartment to their balcony, and had found it lacking. She met my eye again, shrugged, and I sighed internally.

There's no helping it, huh?

"I... guess that's fine. I'm going to warn you now, though. It's small."

I wasn't sure why I didn't want to tell her about our situation. Maybe it was because Nino was listening, and I somehow felt that she would comment. Maybe it was because somewhere deep inside my heart an irrational, base part of me was ashamed, even though there was nothing to be ashamed of.

Maybe part of me was just scared that it would change how Yotsuba saw me.

"Ok! So then, I guess starting on Wednesday, we'll switch locations and get our study on at the Uesugi household!" Yotsuba declared.

"Yep, I guess so." I said, feeling strangely deflated. Then, I glanced up at the clock.

"Come on. We've got another two hours of studying to go."

Yotsuba was the one to deflate this time.

"M...Maybe a small break?" she said.

I glanced at her binder. I glanced at the clock. Then I sighed.

"Fine. A short break. I'm going to make sure you make up for the lost time though."

As Yotsuba leaned back and started chatting with Itsuki, I glanced down at the binder again... and for the first time, I emotionally felt the monumental height of the wall that we were trying to overcome. My words to my father came, unprompted, back into my head.

I'm not convinced she won't fail even if I give it my all.