Yotsuba 5

Yotsuba takes deep breaths. Her hands are shaking. She takes one more look at the tear-stained letter in her hand, then shoves it in her pocket and enters the elevator.

She presses the button for floor 4, the floor where her stepfather works.

This is my second try to tell him. Surely I can do it this time. Fuutarou didn't get mad or disappointed when I told him, so maybe Dad will be okay. They are so similar, after all. It's not like Dad wanted me to be an Olympic athlete or something. He seems to hate athletics about as much as Fuutarou does. So surely he's okay with it, right?

The doors of the elevator open to the 2nd floor, and an elderly man enters the elevator. Yotsuba smiles at him awkwardly.

I should turn around and go home. Dad's work is important…he's saving lives…I shouldn't be bothering him with my….with my…failures. I don't deserve to be here.

The doors to the 4th floor open. Yotsuba takes a deep breath. She doesn't turn back.

She knocks softly on the door of Dr. Nakano's office. There is no response. She knocks again.

I knew I should have called first. I'm so stupid.

"Yotsuba-chan!"

Yotsuba turns around and sees a woman approach. A familiar middle-aged nurse. She is a friendly woman with glasses and black hair in a braid down her back.

"Haya-san! Hey! Oh, um, how did you know I'm Yotsuba?"

"It's the ribbon. Plus it's easier to remember you since you were the one that was getting in trouble the most," Haya says.

Haya became Maruo Nakano's nurse near the end of Rena's life. The quintuplets spent a lot of time at this hospital when their mother was here, so Haya quickly became well acquainted with them, especially Yotsuba.

Yotsuba rubs the back of her head with an awkward smile. "Yeah, sorry about that. I always had the most trouble sitting still."

"Don't worry about it. You girls were actually relatively well behaved. How are your sisters?"

"Well…" Yotsuba's mind first goes to the recent drama between them. But she realizes that that is not what Haya means. Haya sees people dying daily as part of her job, so something like drama over a boy feels insultingly irrelevant in comparison.

"We are doing great. Our grades have improved lately and we are all on track to graduate."

"That's wonderful to hear. By the way, your dad is in surgery right now. I just ended my shift in there, but he will be in there for most of the day."

"Oh…" Yotsuba feels guilty again. It's easy to forget that her stepfather has the lives of people in his hands on a regular basis.

"Did you need something?" Haya asks.

"Well…I actually got turned down from the university I was considering. I needed to talk to him about what I want to do, since he's the one that pays my tuition."

"You're welcome to talk to me. Let's go get some snacks from the machines like we used to do when you couldn't sit still in your mom's room."

"Okay!" Yotsuba feels somewhat guilty about burdening this woman with her relatively unimportant problems, but Yotsuba feels happy that Haya is willing to offer her help and she would feel bad to turn her down.

After buying several snacks from the vending machines, Haya takes a seat at her nurse's station and Yotsuba perches on a nearby tall stool.

"This is exactly like what we did back then," Yotsuba says.

"Yep, except you're bigger now."

"Bigger?!" Yotsuba looks down at her boobs.

"So let's talk," Haya says. "Tell me what's up. You can even tell me things that you're too embarrassed to tell your dad."

"Well actually…" Yotsuba blushes. "There's a boy…and I'm definitely not ready to tell dad that I'm dating someone…especially him."

"Dating?! If this is going to be love talk, I'm even more excited!"

"Well, did I tell you about the boy I met in Kyoto?"

"Umm… I don't recall exactly. You talked a million miles an hour when you were younger so I hope you forgive me for not remembering every thing you said."

"Oh no, that's fine," Yotsuba says. "Well anyway, he's a boy that was hired as our tutor, and I had actually known him from before he became our tutor, and anyway…well there was a lot of drama and stuff, but basically we are dating now, and since I can't go to the athletic school, I think I want to change my plans and go to Tokyo with him. He's really smart, so he's going to the top school there. I'm just planning to go to a basic college."

"Sounds like you got yourself a winner, Yotsuba. Keep your claws in him."

"Um, okay. But you see…dad hates him. To be honest, they are very similar."

"But Maruo is the one that hired him?"

"Yep. You know how dad is."

"I do indeed. I imagine he's quite a scary man from the perspective of a boy trying to date his daughter."

"Yes, he definitely is. And he and Fuutarou haven't exactly seen eye to eye. Fuutarou told him off a few times."

Haya looks surprised. "Listen, Yotsuba. That boy really is a keeper. You stay with him."

Yotsuba chuckles. "Yeah well he's the only person I've ever seen stand up to Dad besides Mom. He really is amazing…"

"Well I understand the situation now. If you want to go to Tokyo with your little Maruo clone, then you shouldn't tell your dad that you're dating him. You need to tell him what you want to study in Tokyo if you want him to approve."

"But I don't know what I want to study."

Haya rolls her eyes. "Having you been paying attention to nothing but boys while you've been in high school?"

Yotsuba blushes. "N-no…Fuutarou is my first boyfriend ever! I don't pay attention to boys-" Yotsuba squeezes her red cheeks nervously. "It's just that I don't know what I want to do with my life. Besides being with Fuutarou. And he's pushing himself to do great things, so I can't disappoint him too much. Even though he basically said I could be his housewife…" Yotsuba turns bright red.

"I went to nursing school in Tokyo, you know. Have you ever thought about becoming a nurse?"

"I…" Memories of her time in the hospital during her mother's illness hit her. Memories of Haya and other nurses. Of her stepfather, and the uncharacteristically sympathetic look on his face when he treated Rena. The wheels start turning in her head. Unfortunately, the wheels in Yotsuba's head don't turn very fast. So Haya speaks again before Yotsuba's brain processes the thoughts.

"You like helping people, right? And you're so energetic and you've got so much stamina, plus you're friendly. You'd make a great nurse."

Yotsuba's brain keeps whirring. "Don't you have to be smart to be a nurse?"

"It's not hard to get trained at a technical school," Haya says. "As far as the actual job, let me tell you…stamina and positivity are more important than brains. Besides, we've got people like your dad to be the brains of the operation."

"Do you really think that I could do it? I'm probably more dumb than you think I am…"

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Yotsuba. Besides, you've got a genius boyfriend, right? I'm sure he can help you."

"Well he tutored me for the entrance exam for the other school and I still failed…"

"Well, learn from your mistakes then. I'm sure you can do it. Besides, if you told your dad you wanted to be a nurse, I'm sure he would be extra supportive. Though I'm sure he'd warn you that it's a tough job, because it is."

Yotsuba jumps to her feet. "I want to save lives like my dad! And I want to make him and Fuutarou proud. And most of all, I have to make Mom proud…Thanks Haya-san!"

Yotsuba waves and sprints out of the hospital.

"Hey, no running in the halls!"

—

Yotsuba dials her phone as she briskly walks out of the hospital. "Uesugi-saaaaaaan! I mean Fuutarou… Guess what?!"

Fuutarou sounds slightly exasperated. "I'm studying. What is it?"

"I wanna be a nurse!"

"Aren't you too dumb to be a nurse?"

"Hey, that's mean."

"How many thousands of times have I told you that before? Surely it doesn't bother you at this point."

"Heh heh, I'm just kidding. You're right, it's gonna be hard for my pea brain to manage. But I have your giant brain to support me, right?"

"Oh….well…Yeah, I suppose so. If that's what you really want, I'll support you with everything I've got."

"You stole that line from me."

"I'm going back to studying."

Fuutarou hangs up. Yotsuba hugs her phone to her chest.

I'll probably fail again. But he still supported me when I failed the entrance exam. He even supported me after I failed to live up to our promise from Kyoto. Maybe I don't have to worry so much.

Maybe it's going to be okay.