Pre-chapter note: Hello, there! I've been a fan of The Quintessential Quintuplets for some time now, mainly because of how fun the character dynamics can be, as well as Futaro's tendency to be a more no-nonsense main character than others. That being said, there are some parts of the story that I didn't completely like, or that I wish were written differently, so I decided to do my own take on it. I usually write stories while keeping their setting in mind, but the thing is, I don't know Nagoya all that well. So instead, I decided to write a story with characters that I love in a city that I love: Vancouver, where I first came to Canada. Making the characters immigrants themselves also helps me relate to them more, plus, I am a huge sucker for fish-out-of-water stories. I hope to make this story different and interesting enough to justify its existence, and I hope you like it too.

Chapter 1: Initial Encounters

"One miso soup, please."

"That'll be $3.68 with tax."

While most secondary school students in Vancouver either brought their lunch from home or went to their school's cafeteria, some would go to nearby restaurants instead. One of these students was Futaro Uesugi, who, surprisingly for someone so frugal, was in a trendy upscale vegan restaurant. While this seemed odd at first glance, Futaro knew that you could get miso soup here for cheaper than the lowest cost cafeteria item, a $5 pizza slice. Plus, while it could be crowded at times, it certainly was quieter than school, so Futaro could easily study.

Within a minute, his order was ready, and he took it to his usual seat, only to stop due to a redheaded girl with a hair poking upwards from her head heading for that same spot.

"Excuse me, I was sitting here," she said.

"I always sit here," he replied.

"Do you have a reservation?"

"Do you?" Futaro took a seat.

The girl grumbled, and sat in the seat in front of him.

"This table's taken," Futaro said.

"There's another seat, and I am very tired from walking around school all morning," the girl replied.

Futaro sighed. Thankfully, no one he knew from his classes was here to see it, and they wouldn't really care anyway. He noticed the girl had her face flushed in embarrassment.

You made your bed, now you get to lie in it, he thought. He then looked at the girl's meal, and his eyes widened. That many dishes? The most basic meal here is $20! Is this girl rich or something?

The girl joined her hands and said the Japanese phrase for expressing thanks upon receiving a meal. Futaro raised an eyebrow.

Her English doesn't sound all that accented… but I guess she's more traditional.

The girl asked, "Where are your manners?"

"You know, you should be really glad I'm not Chinese or Korean."

The girl opened her mouth as if to speak, but then closed it. Futaro ignored her and pulled out some flash cards. He looked at them as he took a sip from his soup.

"What are you doing? Focus on eating!"

"I'm reviewing for a test, leave me alone."

"Reviewing while eating? I didn't know high school was so hard here. How much did you get on your last test?"

Futaro donned a solemn expression. "If you really have to know… I got a perfect score."

The girl just stared at him.

Futaro took on an overly dramatic tone. "Ah, how embarrassing!"

The girl puffed her cheeks and frowned. "What was with that expression? You did that on purpose!"

"Whatever could you be talking about?" Futaro asked, in mock ignorance.

"I have to admit, I'm a little jealous," the girl said. "Hearing rumours and sneaking a peek at the score list is one thing, but to actually see someone who gets perfect scores? Compared to that, I hate to admit it, but my study skills are a little… lacking."

The girl then stood up with a start. "I know! Since we're both at this table, why don't you teach me? Let's start with introductions. I'm Nakano Its—I mean, Itsuki Nakano. I came here from Japan."

Maybe she's trying to make friends, Futaro thought. I guess I could humour her.

"Futaro Uesugi."

"So, Uesugi-kun, how lo—"

Futaro interrupted upon hearing the honorific. "Just call me Futaro."

Itsuki shrunk back. "…I cannot do that. It feels a bit too intimate."

Futaro raised an eyebrow at her choice of words, but shrugged. "You'll have to get used to it at some point," Futaro replied.

"Anyway, as I was saying, how long have you lived here?"

"All my life," Futaro responded. "Born and raised here. I've never lived anywhere else."

Itsuki nodded. "I wasn't born in Japan but I did spend a lot of time there growing up there, and now I've come here."

Futaro, with his stellar social skills and experience, simply nodded and said nothing. He was back to looking at his flash cards. Itsuki called him out for this.

"You're still studying? You haven't finished your—"

She then caught a glimpse of Futaro's plate.

"…food."

Futaro didn't look up from his cards this time. "Well, I have, and now I'm back to studying."

This raised a question for Itsuki. "You are certainly a fast eater. That wasn't a lot of food though, compared to what I have. Are you sure that's enough?"

A combination of Itsuki's apparent privilege, her especially large meal size, her seemingly condescending tone, and Futaro's inability to buy better food caused him to get a bit ticked off by her statement.

"'Enough?'" Futaro began. "I've had plenty, thank you. I'm absolutely stuffed. What about you? Look at your plate! You have more food than you could possibly need, and then you have the gall to ask me like that. Not everyone can be as fortunate as you, Itsuki."

Futaro picked up his flash cards and left for school as soon as he could.

Itsuki was at first angered by his statement of her being 'fortunate', but was ultimately bewildered by his statement.

"I was going to give him some of mine."

Riding his bike on his way back to school, Futaro thought about how that went.

Some people are just so out of touch. What was she thinking when she said that? That I'd tell someone I just met it wasn't enough? He then paused for a moment.Then again, she did say she was from Japan. I can't blame her entirely. Maybe I shouldn't have said that, he thought. Oh well, it's not like we'll ever talk again anyway.

As he locked his bike at the school's racks, he got a call from his younger sister Raiha. When he answered, Raiha was even more cheery than usual, and he couldn't help but smile.

She yelled into the phone, "Hey big bro, did Dad tell you yet?"

Futaro winced from the loudness and brought his phone away from his ear. "Tell me what? Calm down, you're too loud."

"Dad just found you a great part-time job! There's a really rich family that just moved in from Japan, and they're looking for a private tutor for their daughter! It's a nice work environment and pays 5 times the going rate!"

"What's the catch?"

"Do you really need that extra kidney?"

Futaro half-yelled, "And you think this is a good idea?"

"Kidding, I'm kidding. Apparently the father is an old friend of Dad's, and he said he was having trouble with their daughter's bad grades, and also wanted someone to watch over her as she gets accustomed to living here. I know you can help!"

"I never said I'd––"

Futaro's complaint was interrupted by Raiha. "With that money, our finances will have a bit more breathing room! We'll finally be able to eat all we want every day!"

That statement gave Futaro pause, as he thought back to his partially-filled stomach and the exchange he had with Itsuki earlier. After a few moments, he asked, "what's this daughter like anyway?"

"Well, she's in your grade at your school. You might see her around."

After lunch ended, Futaro went to his next class, and saw that the seat next to him, which was usually empty, was now occupied by the redhead he had met earlier. Her presence was turning some heads.

Wait. I've never seen her before today, she's in my class, she said she was from Japan, and she ordered a lot of food. Am I tutoring… her?

Futaro nervously waved at Itsuki, who turned her head away. In this moment, he had learnt an important lesson about not biting the hand that feeds you, in more ways than one.

Not good. Not good at all.

The next day, Futaro took his miso soup to go and headed to the school cafeteria. He had to find Itsuki and patch things up with her, or this job was doomed. However, when he found her, he saw she was already with some other people, who were also redheads.

She smirked and said, "I'm sorry, but all these seats are taken."

Futaro's stomach sunk and he began to walk away. However, one of the other girls with short red hair and a single earring followed him, compelling him to stop.

The short-haired one asked, "You're leaving?"

Futaro responded, "Obviously."

"Aren't you looking for a seat? Couldn't you eat with us?"

"Why would I eat with you?"

"Why not? People have been swarming us about our hair all day! Don't you want to eat at a table of popular, attractive girls?"

Up until this point, Futaro had never met a person like this. He nervously tried to walk away again, but was once again stopped.

"You're after Itsuki, aren't you?"

"Well, not exactly 'after'..."

"Oh my, you really are after her!"

Futaro just stared, confounded by the thought process of this girl, who continued to speak.

"So, what made you fall for her? How sincere and formal she is? I can see why. Do you want me to call her for you?"

Futaro had run out of patience for this strange girl's antics. "I'll handle my personal affairs myself, thank you."

The girl whacked him in the back. "That's pretty rich coming from a nerd like you, but I'll leave you be. Oh, but in case you have any trouble, you can talk to your onee-chan Ichika anytime!"

As Ichika walked away, he wondered why she suddenly dropped in the Japanese phrase. He took a seat on his own, and then thought more about his conundrum. Now Itsuki held a grudge against him. As he pondered what to do, someone was calling him by his last name.

"...Uesugi-san."

He looked up and saw another redheaded girl with a large green ribbon in her hair in front of him. Seeing someone he didn't know say his name threw him for a loop. And again with the Japanese?

"Who are you?"

"You finally looked at me!"

Futaro noticed the ribbon happened to be the same one he saw earlier at Itsuki's table. More importantly, though...

"How do you know my name? And it's just Futaro."

The girl smiled. "Shi-shi-shi, that's a great question, comrade!"

Who laughs like that?

"Actually, I came to give you something that fell out of your bag!" She picked two sheets of paper up. "Now, tell me! Did you drop this quiz with 25/25, or this one with 0/25?" The one with a 25 had the name Futaro written on it, while the other had its name covered by Futaro's answer sheet.

Futaro wondered what was with this girl as he replied. "...the one with the 25."

"Your honesty is commendable! As a reward, you can have both of them!"

"I don't want both. Whose 0 is this, anyway?"

The girl smiled. "Mine!"

Futaro frowned. "I think you were too proud of saying that."

The girl leaned closer. "I'll be honest, seeing someone get a perfect score kind of freaks me out. That's amazing!"

"Well, I'm amazed you didn't even leave it empty and still managed to get a 0. I had no idea that was even a possibility."

"You know, when I saw you, the words that came to mind were 'loner' and 'brooding', but I think 'genius' should be on that list too!"

"Wow, I'm so honoured," Futaro deadpanned.

After finishing his lunch, Futaro walked to his locker, and then to the bathroom. The ribbon-hared girl followed him around, looking at him expectantly. Just as he stepped inside a bathroom, he turned around.

"How long are you gonna follow me?"

The girl grumbled in a manner that could be considered adorable. "You still haven't thanked me. When someone picks something up for you, you say 'thank you'. You're a genius, and you live in Canada. How do you not know that?"

Futaro slammed the girl's paper into her shirt.

She stared blankly at it. "This is just my paper."

"Now we're even."

The ribbon girl paused, and gave him a look as if to say, really? Soon, she shrugged, and her smile returned. "Oh, thank you, Uesugi-san!"

Well, at least she has principles.

"It's just Futaro." He paused, then added, "Oh, by the way, uh... You're close to Itsuki Nakano, aren't you? Could you tell her I'm sorry about what I said?"

The ribbon girl donned a serious expression, or, as serious as an expression could be for someone with a ribbon on her head. "I don't know what you're talking about, Uesugi-san, but no. If you want to apologize, you'll have to do that yourself."

Just Futaro. How hard is that to understand?

After school let out, Futaro watched from behind a tree as he saw Itsuki with the same group of redheaded friends from earlier.

Them again? I can't apologize to her with all of them around! And why are they all redheads? Is it some fashion trend?

He opened the texts on his phone, where his dad had sent him the Nakano family's address. Then he glanced back up and saw that Itsuki was still conversing with her friends, except one was missing. Futaro briefly wondered where she had went, until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw the missing girl in question. She was wearing a pair of blue Audio-Technica headphones around her neck.

She asked, "Having fun, aren't we?"

Futaro awkwardly giggled. "More than you think. This is my hobby."

She continued. "So you're a loner whose hobby is stalking people."

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant. I just like people watching."

She raised an eyebrow. "From behind a tree?"

"Well, now that you say it out loud, I guess it does seem suspicious…"

She paused, maintaining her stoic expression, seemingly analyzing his character.

Futaro hastily added on, "oh, don't tell your friend Itsuki, okay?"

She sighed. "Okay, fine. But I don't have friends."

Futaro watched as the headphone girl rejoined the group. She hangs out with those other redheads and says she doesn't have friends? Social lives are complicated. But who am I to talk?

He then noticed that they were walking south. The Nakano apartment was downtown, and Itsuki seemed to be taking an express bus to get to the Canada Line. This clearly demonstrated to Futaro how unfamiliar they were with the area, and he realized he could beat them there by just taking the trolleybus route that went there directly. He grabbed his bike and rode off to the stop, where he managed to intercept a bus just as it was about to leave.

After about half an hour, he arrived in the city centre and walked around the block to his destination, bike in tow. He saw the apartment building the Nakano family lived in. It was one of those luxury condo towers they kept building that no ordinary person could afford.

She lives here? Dad's friend is loaded.

He then nearly tripped over a stuck-out leg, which belonged to a rather fashionable girl with butterfly ribbons in her hair, that was also red.

The girl minced no words. "What are you, some kind of stalker?"

Futaro looked to see that the headphones girl was also there. Anticipating what he was about to ask, she said, "I said I wouldn't tell Itsuki."

"Itsuki went home," the dual-ribboned girl said. "If you need something, we'll happily help."

"You can't help with this," Futaro replied. "Please let me through."

The butterfly-ribboned girl leaned in closer. "How persistent. You must be popular with girls. Go home, loser."

Despite how scary this girl was, Futaro was still unfazed. "What does that have anything to do with this? I live here!"

She then covered her mouth. "Oh, I didn't realize. Sorry."

Futaro walked up to the door and locked his bike in the rack beside it. As he did so, the butterfly ribboned girl asked, to no one in particular, "wait, does he actually live here?"

By then it was too late to act on that, as Futaro had gotten inside. He saw Itsuki enter the elevator, and ran to catch it, but the doors closed on him. He then saw the next best option, and took the stairs up to the 14th floor, driven by frustration at all he had to endure so far. His effort finally paid off as he encountered Itsuki outside the door to her apartment. She frowned at him.

"What is it? Do you have some business with me?"

Futaro was still panting from being so out of breath. "About yesterday, I just wanted…"

Itsuki interrupted him. "Pardon? Wait, why are you here anyway?"

"I just wanted to say… I'm s––"

"Could you hurry up? My tutor's about to arrive!"

"That's me."

For once today, someone other than Futaro was caught in a state of confusion. "Huh?"

"Your private tutor. It's me."

Itsuki froze in shock.

"Our private tutor can't be someone like you?"

Futaro froze. "Our?"

He then watched the other four redhead girls he had met that day arrive in the elevator. They had mixed reactions to his presence.

The short-haired one seemed intrigued. "Oh, you're the nerd! What are you doing here with Itsuki?"

The butterfly-ribboned girl was harsh, and somehow vindicated. "I knew it! You are a stalker!"

The headphone-adorned girl was calm. "Nino, you're jumping to some serious conclusions."

The green-ribboned one was surprised. "Uesugi-san, you're a stalker?"

Futaro asked, "What are they all doing here?"

"What do you mean? They live here," Itsuki responded.

Futaro's poor brain had taken a significant mental beating by this point, and was on its last legs. He came to the only conclusion he could reasonably think of. "I get the housing crisis is bad, but how do you have roommates at 16?"

In one masterstroke, Itsuki delivered the final blow.

"Roommates? No, we're quintuplets."

The missing piece of the puzzle let everything fall into place. How his sister had mentioned they were paying 5 times the going rate. The fact that they were all familiar with each other, but didn't call themselves friends. The fact that almost all of them had made some use of Japanese. The way he hadn't consciously noticed up until this point how strikingly similar they all looked, especially with their red hair. Knowing all this, Futaro came to one conclusion: He was in a nightmare.

Post-chapter note: The school that Futaro and the quints go to, while not explicitly stated in the story, is Point Grey Secondary School, located near the intersection of 41st Ave W and Arbutus St/West Blvd in Kerrisdale. The Nakano apartment is also a real building in Yaletown. In both cases I will be adding fictionalized elements though.