"Where were you huh?!" Itsuki was immediately confronted by a pink haired girl wearing twin butterfly-shaped ribbons on both sides of her head.
"You suddenly text us saying you're coming home late. But you didn't tell us where you went."
"Wh-where I went is my business, Nino! And please step aside, I want to take off my shoes in peace!" Itsuki huffed. Ichika entered their home while laughing at the situation before she stepped in.
"Nino, don't be mean to her. You should be happy that she's safe. Itsuki's had a long day, give her a break alright?" Nino huffed at Ichika' words and stomped away.
"You better explain everything over dinner." She grumbled, going up to her room. Itsuki looked at Ichika with a thankful look.
"Thanks. Who knows how long she's going to hound on me if you didn't step in." Ichika winked at her, patting her back.
"That's what big sister's do. Buuuttt you still have to explain it to everyone later over dinner. I'm not gonna help much so good luck with that~" Itsuki sighed to herself as Ichika skipped away.
"Great..."
...
"Itsuki, tell us where you went!" Nino pointed at her. Itsuki groaned. The rest of her sisters looked at her curiously, wanting to know where the youngest quint suddenly went after school.
"Don't disturb me while I'm eating, Nino!" She whined, her mouth full of food. Ichika laughed, finding it entertaining already even though it just started.
"Tell me now or I'll take your food and eat it in front of you!"
"Oh you wouldn't dare—"
"Now now... Let's not fight over something so small. Itsuki, it's better if you come clean and explain." Ichika, ever the mediator, interrupted them. Itsuki sighed.
"I just went to the bookstore and got the workbooks needed for school. There! Happy now?" Nino narrowed her eyes at Itsuki while humming. She found it suspicious, veeery suspicious.
"Who took you there? As far as I know, all of us are new to the area. So there's no way you suddenly know where the bookstore was."
"A-a friend took me there." Itsuki stuttered, having to be careful with her words now. Ichika smirked at itsuki's sentence.
"Are you sure he's just a friend, Itsuki?" Ichika teased. Nino's jaw dropped.
" WHAT?! Itsuki went out with a guy?! The world must be ending or something!" By now, all of her sisters except for Ichika were looking at her with pure disbelief on their faces.
"Uesugi-kun is just a friend, Ichika! Don't make it look like something it isn't!"
"Ho really Itsuki?"
" Yes!" Itsuki shouted at Ichika who, in return raised an eyebrow at her.
"Did it feel good?"
" Wh-what?"
"Did it feel good? Wrapping your arms around his waist when he took you around with hus motorbike?" Itsuki's face immediately brightened up.
"WHAAAAT?!" Nino shouted. She must be dreaming. Yes, she must be! 'Itsuki got close to a guy before I did. That's impossible! Simply impossible!' She shouted in her heart.
" W-wow Itsuki! How bold of you!" Itsuki looked at a girl with short, straight hair while having on a bunny ear-shaped ribbon.
"N-no! Yotsuba! It wasn't like that! He keeps driving so fast I thought I might fall off!"
" Did you at least get a good look at his face, Ichika?" Ichika glanced at her sister. She had long hair and a blue wireless headphones wrapped around her neck.
"Oh I sure did Miku~" Ichika replied to Miku before she started giggling. Nino snapped out of her jealousy and looked at ichika, partly interested. Itsuki stayed silent, fearing that the more she talked, the more scandalous it might look even though it was just a harmless hangout.
"Let's just say... If Itsuki doesn't make a move, big sis is going to take him all for herself~" Ichika grinned mischievously.
"I-Ichika!" Itsuki shouted in pure disbelief at her sister's scandalous words. Ichika only laughed.
"Wow, so he must be pretty good looking then. Good for you, Itsuki." Yotsuba commented with a smile.
" Y-yotsuba! We're not dating! We're just friends!" Yotsuba giggled at her. Itsuki was always the easiest one to tease.
"What even is his name anyways? Is he in our grade?" Nino asked. Itsuki raised an eyebrow at her.
"Do you seriously think I'm going to tell you, Nino? I'm familiar with your tactics."
" Wh-what?! Are you saying I'm some sort of pervert?!" Nino stuttered. Itsuki shook her head.
"I didn't say that now did I? Uesugi-kun isn't that type of person. He's very nice and helpful. So I don't want you and your childish scare tactics to affect our friendship, thank you very much!"
"Hey! I'm not some gangster! I just want to you know.... set some boundaries! Yeah that's it! Hahaha...." Nino laughed awkwardly, sweating a little. Itsuki deadpanned at her words.
"Uesugi...." Yotsuba whispered, that was the only word she got from Itsuki's sentence. The name felt familiar, extremely familiar. She glanced at Ichika who was already staring at her.
"Is he...." Yotsuba didn't even get to finish her question as Ichika nodded, a bright smile on her face. The ribbon wearing girl's eyes started to widen.
"You're serious?" Yotsuba asked, slowly getting up from her seat. Ichika nodded repeatedly. "His first and last name's a total match. And his eyes and smile, you can't mistake that..." Ichika muttered. Yotsuba's grin could only get bigger.
"Uh... what are we talking about here?" Nino interrupted, confused at the secret talk between Ichika and Yotsuba. Ichika and Yotsuba both looked at her, before putting their fingers on their lips, a huge grin on their faces. Nino huffed angrily.
"Hmph! Fine! Keep your secrets to yourself! It's not like I desperately want to be in on you guys' secret or anything!"
"Real smooth lie there Nino." Miku commented sarcastically, taking small bites of her food.
"Sh-shut up Miku!"
"You're only shutting me up because I'm correct in my assumptions."
"Arghhhh!!!!"
...
"Son, did I tell you about that yet?" Isanari questioned. Fuutarou raised an eyebrow at him.
"About what?"
"So I know how you've been wanting to get into tutoring." At Fuutarou's nod, Isanari continued. "So I got an offer from an old friend of mine, he's been looking for a private tutor, and thought you were the perfect choice cuz of you know... your grades and all."
"Okay?... You got me interested a little." Fuutarou raised an eyebrow, sensing that his father had more to say.
"He's paying you 5 times the standard rate. Oh, did I mention, you're not teaching just one student, you're teaching 5 at the same time." Fuutarou raised an eyebrow. That shouldn't be a challenge, he's taught 10 times the amount multiple times.
"And get this, they're quintuplets!" Fuutarou blinked before looking at his father.
"You serious?"
"One million percent. So are you in or not?"
....
"PAPA DID WHAT?!" Nino's shrieking could be heard all around the apartment as the quintuplets were gathered around the living room for a meeting. Ichika, being the one who called the meeting, sighed as she rubbed her ears.
"Papa found us a tutor, but he refuses to reveal the identity of said tutor, only saying that he's in the same school as us and that he'll come to our house to teach us." Ichika explained. Nino groaned. The one thing she hated most is strangers, especially men, stepping in her sacred sanctuary.
"Tell papa we said no!" Miku looked up from her Nintendo Switch, her eyebrow raised.
"You really think he'll listen to us when our report cards look like that?"
"Hey Miku! You're supposed to be supportive here!" Nino sneered. Miku shrugged.
"If you think about it, I am being supportive of you guys by agreeing with father. If studying with this mystery tutor raises our grades, protects our future, and keeps us together, then cooperating helps everyone, even if it's uncomfortable to invite a stranger to our home."
"True...." Itsuki muttered, though she was a little bit taken aback by this decision from her father. Nino scoffed and looked at Itsuki.
"C'mon, Itsuki! You don't seriously think this is a good idea! The tutor's probably a crappy one anyways! They're probably in it for the money!" Itsuki sighed at Nino. The girl can be too protective of her sisters sometimes. It's a very nice gesture, but it starts to get annoying especially in situations like this.
"We can always tell father if he's incompetent." Itsuki reasoned. Nino scoffed.
"He's probably going to give us some lame reason to make that tutor stay Itsuki. You know how he is." Nino huffed as she sat back down on the couch, hugging her legs and burying her face in her thighs. Yotsuba placed her finger on her chin, having a thoughtful expression.
" How about you try asking dad about the tutor's name, Ichika?" Yotsuba requested. Ichika sighed and shook her head.
"Papa's offline, my messages aren't getting through anymore. I guess he went back to work." She replied. Yotsuba sighed and grabbed the remote, turning on the television.
"Tch... He hasn't been back for a week...How he can decide what's best for us when he doesn't even come home?" Nino gritted her teeth in dissatisfaction.
"C'mon Nino, if can't be that bad. Who knows, maybe the tutor's handsome~" Ichika smiled down at Nino who remained silent.
"Ichika, what we need is a competent tutor, not a looker who doesn't even know how to teach." Miku stated, her fingers busy with the game controls. Ichika sighed.
"Yeah I know that, Miku. But c'mon, it's papa we're talking about here, why would he hire somebody who's second-rate especially if it's for us? And papa said that the tutor's from our new school, so he must be smart right?" Ichika tried to convince them.
" I can study by myself just fine..." Nino grumbled, attempting to be defiant. The statement was so atrocious that it caused Miku to pause her game and side eye her.
"You can't be serious right now... Our grades are shit, when are you going to realize that? And what studying do you even do anyway, all you do is watch K-drama—"
"This coming from the girl who played video games instead of studying for last year's finals."
" Still got better grades than you though—"
" Oh now you've done it—"
"Oi." They all looked at Itsuki who was crossing her arms at them, her eyes narrowed. Yotsuba wasn't even focused on their bickering, instead watching a livestream of a basketball match.
"Nino, can you just not make this tutor look like some big bad villain? You haven't even met them, yet you're already making assumptions." Nino clenched her fists. She gritted her teeth and looked away, grabbing her phone and started scrolling through Instagram reels.
"Whatever Itsuki. Just don't come crying when that guy makes our grades worse than it already is." Itsuki sighed at Nino's words, shaking her head. She decided to take her mind off it by following Fuutarou's advice, searching up videos that explain the subjects she didn't understand to her.
Maybe then could her grades start improving....
To be continued.....