Fuutarou 5

Yotsuba and Fuutarou gather up their books and pencils. They just finished their study session for Yotsuba's college entrance exam. It has been about ten days since the ultimatum, and since they started these extra study sessions. There is another week before the exam.

She's really trying hard, just like she always does. And she definitely seems happy when we do lovey-dovey stuff. But in between those times, it's pretty obvious that she has been depressed.

I confessed to the girl I like, and she confirmed that she was the girl I fell in love with six years ago, and she feels the same way. We kissed and started dating. But then she became depressed. It really is a blow to my self-esteem. Even though I know it's because of her sisters and not because of me…at least I think.

She told me she is happiest when she is supporting others. I could ask her to help me get in shape. Wait no, having to exercise would just make me depressed instead. I guess I need to find a reason for her to worry about me, but not something too serious.

"Hey, Yotsuba, I have been thinking lately. I feel kind of sad that I'm graduating high school without having any friends. I know I always said I didn't care about that, but maybe I do a little bit."

"Oh wow, Uesugi-san, you really are affectionate toward me if you don't even consider me your friend!"

"You don't count. You're my girlfriend. Really I don't count any of you quintuplets as friends. You're more Iike a natural disaster that I survived through."

"What about Maeda and Second-Place-san? I saw you hanging out with them at the festival."

"I guess we have started getting along better since the Kyoto trip. But I haven't really chosen to hang out with them outside of school functions. I don't know if I would really consider them to be friends."

"Uesu-I mean Fuutarou, you are too strict with your definition of 'friend'. But that's okay! Our new mission is to strengthen your bond with Maeda and Second-Place-san! Operation BFFs! I'll have to let Ichika know about this immediately!"

"Well I'm glad you're excited, but don't let this distract you from your studying."

Yotsuba salutes. "Understood sir! Now, commence Operations BFFs!"

—-

Mistakes were made…

Fuutarou stands in front of a building next to Yotsuba. Flashing letters say "KARAOKE!" Fuutarou facepalms, and Yotsuba leers mischievously and pulls him inside.

They find the correct booth. Inside is Takeda, who Fuutarou, and now Yotsuba, call 'Second-Place-san', along with Maeda and a girl that Fuutarou vaguely recognizes as the one that was with Maeda in the test of courage.

Yotsuba waves. "Matsui-chan, come sit with me! Boys on one side and girls on the other!" She shoves Fuutarou into the seat next to Takeda.

A few minutes later, Ichika and Miku arrive. Ichika is practically shoving Miku into the room.

"I have to go to work," Ichika says, "so I can't stay and have fun, unfortunately. But I brought Miku to take my place. She's a much better singer than me anyway. Yotsuba, please make sure Miku stays the whole time and has fun."

Yotsuba salutes. "Roger that!"

After Ichika exits and the group places orders for drinks, Yotsuba stands up to speak to the group, as if she is the host.

"This will be a team contest, boys versus girls. Whichever team scores lower has to do anything the winning team tells them to!"

Oh great.

Yotsuba goes first. She chooses the bubbliest anime song imaginable. She is enthusiastic, but her pitch and rhythm are both terrible. Fuutarou can't help but find it cute.

After she finishes her song, she grabs Fuutarou's hand and pulls him up with surprising strength. She hands him the microphone and he nervously chooses a song. He just chooses a random song on the search list that Yotsuba had already pulled up. It's another upbeat anime song, and not one that Fuutarou has ever heard. As expected, he sucks. Everyone in the room laughs, except Yotsuba, who is half laughing and half cheering, and Miku, who sits sullenly in the corner.

Fuutarou passes off the microphone to Takeda. He makes his song choice very quickly, and Fuutarou assumes that he also chose a random anime song. But then he begins singing a slow romantic melody. Matsui gasps. Maeda says "hell yeah" under his breath. Takeda is very good. Fuutarou starts to feel a bit jealous, but then remembers how pathetically that Takeda has struggled to beat him in academics, and his jealousy disappears quickly.

Maeda and Matsui take the next two songs. They both get average scores. It's clear that Matsui is more practiced and puts in more effort into her singing, but her song choice is challenging so her score ends up being almost the same as Maeda's.

Miku is up last, and it takes some insistence from Yotsuba and Matsui to convince her to get up to sing. She is a bit breathless in the beginning from nervousness. But once she starts projecting her voice, it is beautiful. Everyone in the room besides Yotsuba is momentarily stunned. Yotsuba is simply smiling proudly. She has clearly heard Miku sing before and isn't surprised. Yotsuba and Matsui both stand and cheer when Miku finishes and her high score appears, and even Takeda is clapping.

Yotsuba stands to check the scores. "Whoops, uh, hehe. The scores are tied."

"That means we need to clarify the rules," Takeda says. "Does this mean that each team loses and must do something the other team asks, or does it mean neither does?"

"Um…" Yotsuba fumbles around. "Let's do a tiebreaker."

"Let's do boy and girl teams!" Matsui says excitedly. "Maeda wanted to sing with me."

"Um…"

Yotsuba did this to help me 'bond' with the guys. But she can't say 'no' to anyone.

"Sure, let's do that!" Yotsuba says. "Miku, you are with Second-Place-san."

"Who is that? Oh, you mean the tutor guy that we turned down?"

Takeda stands and bows awkwardly. "Ms. Nakano, with our vocal skills together, we should win easily."

Miku looks uncomfortable, but she agrees.

Yotsuba drags Fuutarou to the stage area and chooses another kawaii anime song. As expected, their score is abysmal. But they both come away laughing, and the rest of the room is also laughing. Their combined ineptitude is so absurd that even Miku is laughing.

Matsui and Maeda go next, and she chooses an actual duet, as opposed to the previous group who just yelled anime song lyrics at the same time. Maeda doesn't seem familiar with the song and he slips up a bit, but his deep voice sounds pretty good in some parts. Their combined score is pretty good.

Takeda and Miku get up to sing. Takeda goes to select a song, but Miku puts out her arm to gesture for him to move aside. She chooses the song herself, and the music starts. It is an older ballad, with some high lingering notes that Miku clearly chose to show-up Takeda. It succeeds. The two aren't exactly in sync, but both are far better at singing than the rest of the group. Their score is higher than the other two teams put together.

"Hang on a second, Yotsuba," Fuutarou says. "How was that a tiebreaker? It's totally different groups."

"Oops, my bad." Yotsuba makes the awkward apologetic smile that she always makes when she says something stupid. Fuutarou has always found it cute, and it always disarms him and stops him from scolding her too hard when she says something particularly stupid.

Wait a second. This face of hers has been working on me all along, ever since the first day I tutored them. Way before I realized I had feelings for her. I guess I found her cute all along and just ignored it. I wonder why I ignored it so hard?

"Fuutarou? Are you listening?" Yotsuba pokes him. "We are going to the arcade next."

Yotsuba drags Miku and Matsui away from the guys on the way to the arcade. It looks like she wants the girls to herself, but Fuutarou knows that she is trying to get Fuutarou bonding time with the guys. However, their conversation is not very stimulating. Maeda is lightly teasing Fuutarou for he and Yotsuba's terrible singing, and Takeda is talking about how great his and Miku's singing was.

Once the group makes it to the arcade, the girls quickly disappear so the rest of the evening mostly consists of Maeda and Takeda getting overly competitive at dumb arcade games and Fuutarou making fun of the loser each time.

That wasn't the most fun I've ever had, but it wasn't bad. I didn't get too annoyed at Maeda and Takeda, which is quite an achievement compared to my past interactions with classmates in high school. Well regardless, this was all for Yotsuba, so I hope she had fun and I hope she is enjoying helping me.

As the male trio exit the arcade, they spot the three girls sitting at a table in the corner talking. Maeda gestures toward them from across the room.

"Hey Uesugi," says Maeda. "Are you dating Ribbon-chan?"

"Yeah, me and Yotsuba are going out now. It's pretty recent."

"So she's the one you confessed to at the festival," says Takeda. "I could have sworn you and Itsuki had a thing."

"Itsuki? No way," says Fuutarou. "And how did you know that it happened at the festival?"

"Remember when we were talking about it at the festival?" Takeda asks. "Maeda did too, right?"

"Yeah," Maeda says. "I asked Matsui on a date. It went okay I guess. I don't think we are officially dating or whatever. It's kind of vague."

"I was in the same situation at first with Yotsuba, so I just awkwardly blurted out asking if she wanted to be my girlfriend. It was really embarrassing but probably worth it, because I can't stand ambiguity when it comes to stuff like that. Oh, by the way, Second Place-san, why did you think me and Itsuki had a thing?"

"Oh because you argue constantly."

"I don't think that's a good reason," Fuutarou says.

"Yeah bro," says Maeda. "You've been watching too much anime, bro. Stay away from real life tsunderes."

"So Uesugi-san," says Takeda. "You are well acquainted with all the Nakano sisters. So why Yotsuba?"

"She's always nice to me. I guess that's the simple answer. There's a lot more to it than that, but I don't think I could explain it very well."

"Yo Takeda," says Maeda. "Are you into anybody? You're pretty popular. Why don't you ask out one of the other Nakano sisters? The shy one that you sang with tonight seems cute."

"I'll wait until college before I consider dating. I'm only interested in a woman that can challenge me intellectually. I mean no offense to the quintuplets."

"No need to beat around the bush," says Fuutarou. "They are all idiots. I know all too well. They're all five morons. Yotsuba is the dumbest of the bunch. I'm pretty used to it at this point."

"Wow, you're blunt," says Maeda. "That's a heck of a way to talk about your own girlfriend."

"Oh I've been calling her an idiot ever since we met. She usually smiles when I scold her, so I don't think she minds."

"What a strange girl," Takeda says.

"Yes," Fuutarou says. "They are all five a pain in the ass. I don't recommend trying to date any of them if you can help it."