It was Sunday a free day for Kiyomaro after doing a light jogging session in the morning, while he wasn't training as hard as he used to, when preparing for the fight against clear, Kiyomaro still understood the necessity of keeping in shape. Kiyomaro had already decided to spend all day gathering information about those stolen artifacts, he was a little bumped by not having his notebook with him but the risk of having to face Nino's wrath and being branded as pervert or worse was too much.

just remembering that night made Kiyomaro face red

He slapped his checks hard "stop thinking about that. they're your students, be professional."

"Kiyomaro, there is a pretty girl at the door" Takamine Hana called her son.

"Pretty girl? Megumi-san? but she usually sends a message before dropping by" while the contact with the idol has been slowly getting lower. She would sometimes come to visit here and there to talk and remember the good times they spent with Tio and Gash.

Getting down stairs in the entrance of the house instead of light brown hair. Kiyomaro saw a shining red "Itsuki?" her face was as red as her hair, most likely due to the comment his mom recently made about her.

"Kiyomaro, what are you doing? she's your guest, greet her properly" and like all moms hana entered in her sermon mode.

"Haha good morning Takamine-kun, I brought you your notebook" she bringed her fabric bag up front "there is also the payment for tutoring session."

"Thank you Itsuki. Ah, pass. Do you want something to drink?"

"Nono I just came here to deliver this then I'm gone"

"C'mon don't be shy, Itsuki-chan was it?" The mother of the Takamine household was really having a good time "it's been a while since kiyomaro had a pretty girl come over" she said as she pushed Itsuki toward the living room. "ok I'll go buy some cake for our guest. Kiyomaro be a proper host" and like she said she left riding her usual bike to the market.

The young tutor could only let out a dry laugh "sorry she is like that" Kiyomaro tried to drown his shame with a laugh.

"Don't worry" Itsuki had a lonely smile on her face "That's how moms are."

"Itsu-" it didn't take genius to realize the little mention of a maternal figure in Nakano household and the fact the only parental figure he knew of was the distant Nakano Maruo, Kiyomaro wasn't one to meddle into others families but could at least lend a ear to her problems.

"Anyway here is your notebook and the payment" when Kiyomaro tried to ask if she was alright, Itsuki pulled from her bag the notebook and an envelope with money in it bringing again the original reason why she came here in the first place.

To which he just thought 'now that I think about it. I didn't give the Nakano's father my bank account for a transaction, I just thought that my dad would give it to him, but cash in this day and age?'.

"you're not going to count it?"

"Mmm yeah" he opened the envelope and quickly counted the money, from Itsuki point of view he just passed his thumb very fast through the bills and then he had a complicated face after counting it.

"Is there a problem"

"kinda, this is the money for two study session with the five of you at most I got three and the days I went there we practically did nothing"

Itsuki just looked at him and tried to get the right words for him to accept the payment. If her sisters say she is a serious person then what about the person in front of her "I wouldn't say you did nothing" she looked at him with honest eyes "your very existence has already begun to stir a change in the five of us."

Kiyomaro froze for a moment at the appearance of the girl in front of him, almost as if the morning sunshine decided to help her express her feelings and just as she said those words the sun behind her shined with right amount of force to make Itsuki expression stand out even more, honest blue eyes a light smile on her lips and a little bit of red on her face that combine well with her hair color, for a moment Kiyomaro couldn't look away from Itsuki.

Then a cloud must have blocked the sun because the illumination of the room returned to how it was before and finally Kiyomaro returned to his senses 'man these sisters, all of them are so stubborn and just when you get used to it they hit you with a curve ball' then a he finally remembered one of his objectives of today which did involved the sister's.

"Ah right, Itsuki mind coming upstairs"

"Eh?" what went through her mind when kiyomaro said those words is a secret she's going to keep for life, especially from Ichika and Nino.

"It took me some time but I finally found my middle school books. I want to see if they can help you."

"Ah? Hahaha right the middle school books" she shocked her head to get those weird ideas out of her mind "lead the way Kiyomaro-kun."

Going up the stairs, Itsuki couldn't help to notice how clean the house was. Kiyomaro doesn't seem to be someone that's unorganized in general but the good state of the house was clearly thanks to his mother.

Then he opened the door to what seemed to be his room, the first thing Itsuki noted was the amount of books he had. there were three bookshelves filled to the brim, she couldn't discern the genre but some seemed to be encyclopedias. The rest was normal: a bed, a tv and his desk with some books open on it and a laptop turned off.

"Man I really thought I threw these when I couldn't find them anywhere. But they were in the attic" he kneeled to pull a cardboard box from under the desk when she opened it was full with kiyomaro middle school studying material.

"Oh" Kiyomaro just passed one of them to Itsuki to see while he tried to search for another book in the box.

"Good there are also the tests here" he had a smile as he opened a folder with different different tests inside "with this we can go faster in building your base."

Itsuki opened the middle school textbook she had in hand 'yes I remember these' and she had a more clear understanding of what was in the book.

She was happy flipping the pages to see until which point she understood, so far she was in the middle of the book and was doing good, then she noted in one of the blank pages when a chapter ended there were some drawings, not like the drawing of a middle school boy, it was more childish.

"Gash, Umagon, Tio and Kanchome" Below the names written in crayon there were some poor drawings of what she thought were the children that go with the name, with yellow a happy child, in light brown a horse? A girl in pink and a duck? In orange.

She was honestly confused "ah. Like I thought they did draw in the books."

Itsuki didn't notice when Kiyomaro's face got so close, but now there we're looking at the same page and their faces were almost touching, Itsuki tried her best to focus on the page and not let her head run wild.

"These are?"

"I hope you don't mind the other books probably have something like this as well" kiyomaro pulled himself back and started to inspect the other books, when he found another drawing he couldn't help but to soften his smile "there was this kid, Gash, the one in yellow, that stayed with us for a while, he is the son of a family friend, the drawings are from him and his friends."

"Oh! don't worry about it. lending me the book is enough" Itsuki could clearly see that Kiyomaro held with great affection for those memories 'he probably thought of that child as a little brother'. When she tried to see the drawing, Kiyomaro was looking. she had to stand on the tip of her feet and stretch her neck to look over his shoulder but she still failed to reach.

Something he noted and turned to let her have a better look, this drawing again had the kid Gash in yellow color but now Instead of the other three it had another figure in brown color, it cost Itsuki a little to read it but the text below said: gash and kiyomaro friends!. she gushed at little over how cute the feelings behind the drawing were but then Itsuki noted.

that Kiyomaro knew way more about her and her sisters than they knew of him. is not like he had tried to be secretive if anything from the first day he has been very open from the beginning it was more their side fault for not asking more about their tutor.

"Kiyomaro! come on down and bring Itsuki-chan I already served the table"

At the sound of Kiyomaro mother Itsuki, the train of thought came to a stop.

"lets go? we can continue later"

"ah! yes"

there's no way Itsuki would say no to cake after all.

"Goodbye Itsuki-chan, please visit again" Hana said her farewell to Itsuki, in the short time she had been in the house the Takamine mother had come to adore Itsuki "Kiyomaro escort her properly"

"Yes, I know" meanwhile her son was already putting his shoes on, to accompany Itsuki back home "got, everything?"

"Yes" she turned to see Hana again "thank you for everything. I had a great time."

"Aww, aren't you adorable" Hana resisted the urge to pinch Itsuki cheeks "my kiyomaro is a little rowdy with his actions every now and then but he usually mean well so continue to get along with him"

The boy in question had his face red from embarrassment, he really wanted this to end, meanwhile Itsuki was having a great time watching her usual confident tutor being a red mess.

"Ahaha" Itsuki remembers the day she met Kiyomaro where he somehow put a demon face that almost left her in tears, then the fights with Nino and also when he grabbed Yotsuba by the collar of her clothes. She gets what Hana means by him being a little rowdy but also meaning well after all he has been helping her and her sisters without complaining "yes, Takamine-kun has been really helpful to me and my sister."

The sun was already setting. Itsuki's original plan was to give Kiyomaro his notebook back and bring him the money but somehow she ended up staying the morning and even having lunch. For some reason Hana was really happy seeing Itsuki eat, as if Itsuki reminded her of someone who also could eat the plates of curry with no problem. She even was kind enough to give her more slices of cake so she can share them with her sister's.

and so Kiyomaro was walking alongside Itsuki carrying the same bag she had initially brought but now with some of the textbook that kiyomaro had showed her earlier, while Itsuki carried a small package with cake for her sisters.

She originally wanted to bring all the textbooks she could have but Kiyomaro stopped her by saying that he was going to visit her house anyway in the week. Then he would bring more, no need to carry all that weight right now.

"Around here should be good takamine-kun" there were more than halfway to the apartment, so Itsuki didn't want him to go all the way on his free day.

"You sure?"

"It is. you already spent your free day with me. You probably have things on your list too." she signaled to give her the bag after freeing one hand.

As he passed Itsuki her belongings, Kiyomaro just let out a sight in these days tutoring them he realized that Itsuki is stubborn as they come, sometimes too much for her own good.

"Sundays are for relaxing, you don't have to be in tutor mode all the time."

"I should give that advice right back at you, you're planning to dive into the textbooks right as soon as you enter your house, right?"

She just looked to the other side with a red face, was she that easy to read?

"Ahem, anyway goodbye takamine-kun."

"See ya, Itsuki."

As they parted ways, Itsuki in no time reached her apartment. Upon entering the living room she saw Ichika and Yotsuba talking while Miku curled up on the sofa while looking at her phone with complete focus.

"I'm home"

"Welcome back Itsuki"

"Itsuki!"

Ichika and Yotsuba interrupt her their chat to greet. Yotsuba realized all the things she was carrying and quickly stood up to help her.

"Itsuki, weren't you supposed to give him the money and come back, what took you so long?" Nino came out of her room to see that finally Itsuki arrived.

"I know but his mom was so sweet she went to buy a cake and before I realized we also had lunch, the hours just went by." While saying that she left the package on the dinner table "she also cut some slices for the five of us."

Nino went to inspect the package and as Itsuki said there were five slices one for each of them, what surprised her the most is that she knew the store that sells them. It was from a bakery she had in high regard.

"Mmm, so while we're here worried about our little sis, Itsuki was putting her plan in action." let out a very fake cry Ichika and hid her smile with her hand.

"My plan?" She really wasn't getting what Ichika was talking about.

"C'mon don't play fool. the Itsuki plan to get mother-in-law on your side"

"Ehhh Itsuki you had that plan!?" Yotsuba was surprised by the scheming side of Itsuki.

"I did not!"

"Muu Itsuki" Miku was Itsuki didn't know why 'is it because I ate without her? but I did bring a slice for her'.

"We can pester Itsuki later, let's just eat dinner first" Nino started to walk towards the kitchen wondering if there was something quick to prepare. "we already have that guy in the house during the week, why should we talk about him on our free day."

"Itsuki what's in the bag" Miku seemed to be interested in the bag that somehow was more packed than when she had left.

"Right, remember that we talked about going back a little to reinforce our bases, Takamine-kun found his old textbook and he lent me some of them" Itsuki took the bag that Yotsuba was holding for her and displayed the textbook on the table where they usually studied.

Miku stretched her hand to pick up one of the textbooks after flipping through the pages just like Itsuki had done some hours ago. She also found a childish drawing made with crayon.

"I'll become a kind king" Miku was a little confused.

"Fufu, he sure had big goals that guy" Nino was laughing a little like she finally found material to make fun of Kiyomaro "let me see the others, maybe we can find more dark history of him."

When Nino grabbed the textbook and after flipping the pages she found a drawing of a kid in yellow dancing with a horse?

"For the record the drawings are from a kid that stayed up with Takamine-kun and his mother for a while" since Nino wasn't using the textbook to study Itsuki took it from her hands, Nino pulled her tongue out annoyed at Itsuki seriousness "it seems that they really thought of that kid, Gash-kun as family, Mrs Takamine spoke really fondly of him."

"Well let's eat, you can see those books later" Nino brought the attention of their sisters back.

Yotsuba had a big smile on her face while looking at a page from the textbook before closing it and joining her sisters in the dinner room 'Takamine-san seemed to be so serious but he also played make belief with that kid' the drawing that Yotsuba saw one of a kid yellow shooting some kind of power from its mouth, while who she thought was Kiyomaro was pointing forward while holding a red book with a line that said: we are the strongest!

Itsuki was finally in her room. She had found the day while tiring. It had also been fun, right now she was undecided between going straight to bed or to study with the help of one of the textbooks Kiyomaro had lended to her.

While looking at the textbooks she noted the book that she got as an extra yesterday. no matter how much she looked on the internet about the characters of the cover nothing would come up.

She thought that maybe it was something out of a market campaign like from a manga that's coming soon where those books were important to the plot but also nothing came up in the end Itsuki decided to go back to the bookstore and return it after all a book you cannot read is useless. but she spent too much time in Kiyomaro house during the day.

"Right! the owner goes on vacation tomorrow" and it was close to closing time Itsuki got in her coat and grabbed the book "I don't know if I can return it after the owner comes back"

"Itsuki you're going out?" Ichika was surprised to see her little sister go out at this hour while it wasn't that much late. The sun was already gone.

"Yes I got this book I want to return" then Itsuki pulled the weird book from the bag to show it to Ichika.

"It's getting late, can't you do it tomorrow?"

"The owner goes to vacation" she was already at the door putting on her shoes "don't worry is close I'll be back in no time"

"If it is already too late when you get there call a taxi"

"Got it"

As she said that Itsuki left the apartment, upon reaching the street she started walking towards the bookstore with a quick pace. completely unaware of the two figures looking at her in the distance.