Fuutarou rang the doorbell as he was back to the quints' apartment for their morning tutoring session. After a moment, a nervous Nino quickly stepped out and shut the door, leaving the two outside.
"Nino?" Fuutarou tilted his head, wondering what she wanted. He could tell she was nervous, with her fiddling her fingers and her gaze all over the place except for him.
"Last night... Didn't happen... G-got it?" Nino stuttered out. He nodded, an apologetic expression on him.
"That was kind of my bad, Nino. I should've knocked on the door before entering." He apologized. Nino shook her head.
"N-no, it's not completely your fault. I should've went to my room after showering instead of staying at the living room. I probably got too comfortable in my house and forgot to be modest." Both stayed silent, the air was awkward, both not knowing what to say.
"I uh... I got you something..."
"Really?!" Nino covered her mouth at her accidental loudness. Fuutarou chuckled and nodded, clearly she was excited.
"I just didn't want you thinking I didn't take it seriously...Here..." He held up a paper bag. Nino widened her eyes a little, noticing the red Hello Kitty bow on the paper bag. Nino blinked as she checked what was inside the paper bag.
"Kyaa! Kuromi!!" Nino squealed as she took out a plushie of Kuromi wearing a hakama decorated in floral and traditional Japanese prints.
"So cuteee!!" She hugged the plushie with a smile on her face. Fuutarou watched her with a smile, mesmerized by her sweet smile.
'Perks of saving up, investing and getting lucky with NFTs.' He mused as Nino suddenly cleared her throat, remembering that he was still in front of her.
"Th-thank you, Uesugi. Your apology is accepted." She pointed at him, eyes narrowed. "You better be careful next time got it?"
"Yes ma'am." He chuckled as Nino smiled down at the doll again. But then she realized something. 'Wait, isn't Sanrio expensive? This one's price is over nine thousand yen!' She looked up at Fuutarou, now having a worried expression. She couldn't believe her tutor would go this far. She's touched, but...
"You've only known me a week and you're already wasting money on me?... Are you bad with finances or something?" She muttered. Fuutarou shrugged.
"It's alright Nino, it's not that expensive. What, you don't want it or something? You should've said so Nino, I could refund this—"
"NO!" Nino shouted, turning her body away as he reached for the doll, before sighing.
"It's alright...I love it. Kuromi is very cute. Now aren't you supposed to tutor us?" She switched the topic, not wanting to discuss what happened last night anymore.
" I would, but someone's preventing me from entering her home." He grinned at her. She huffed, before opening the door behind her.
"Get in already, Uesugi. We don't have all day."
"Yes ma'am."
"Hmph!"
...
"Kuromi huhhh?? I wonder why he picked that, Nino." Ichika snickered as she playfully elbowed Nino who glared at her silently. Fuutarou already went back, having taught them for 3 hours.
"The Melody one they're currently selling looks cuter I think." Yotsuba laughed a little as she worked on the exercise sheet that her tutor gave them. The quintuplets were sitting around the coffee table, completing the exercise sheets together.
Itsuki sighed. "He didn't have to go that far That Kuromi doll is 9000 plus yen. Uesugi-kun is a student and doesn't have that much money, hs should've thought properly before purchasing." Personally, Itsuki would've recommended that he bought the scented stationery set, but what's done is done.
"You're just jealous he didn't buy you one, Itsuki." Nino grinned mischievously at her.
" I am not! What is with you and your silly assumptions?!"
"That's the reaction only a jealous person would give." Miku joined in on the teasing while completely focused on her mobile game, taking a small break as she had completed half of the exercises.
"Mmmm!!!" Itsuki pouted as Nino laughed.
"But still, buying Sanrio just like that without thinking twice..." Ichika mumbled, staring at the plushie. "Maybe his financial situation isn't as bad as we thought it was." She then commented.
"I mean you can kinda tell just by looking at his bike. Yamaha isn't as cheap as you think." Miku replied. Yotsuba tilted her head.
"Hey Itsuki, does Fuutarou-kun drive the Yamaha MT-15 or MT-09?" She asked. Itsuki laughed a little awkwardly.
" Hehe. I don't know. I'm not well-informed in this topic." Itsuki replied, rubbing her neck.
"MT-15." Miku replied. Nino blinked.
"Ah yeah, I forgot you went out on a date with him few days ago." Nino huffed. "How did someone like you manage to bag a date before me?"
Miku glanced at her for a bit. "It's not a date." She argued before refocusing on the game.
"And manners matter a lot, unlike a certain someone who poisoned our tutor's drink on his first day on the job." Miku jabbed. Nino groaned, covering her face.
"Ughhh are we really still on that?" She complained as they laughed. Ichika hummed.
"Yeah but speaking of Fuutarou's financial situation. Do you all noticed he's wearing a Rolex?" Ichika's sisters immediately glanced at her.
" Yeah I know right? Like do you think it's a gift or something?"
"Nino, who just gifts a Rolex out of nowhere?" Itsuki questioned.
"Dad maybe." Yotsuba joked. Ichika laughed a little.
"Papa doesn't even know his face. And he isn't the gifting type." She corrected. Yotsuba hummed.
"Well then where did he get that watch? Don't tell me he stole it or something." Yotsuba mumbled. Nino raised an eyebrow.
"Him? Stealing? I think you got the wrong guy, Yotsuba." Yotsuba laughed as Ichika looked at Nino again.
"Wow, this is a surprise. Fuutarou-kun's biggest hater defending him? The world must be ending." Ichika giggled as Nino scowled at her.
"Tch...Whatever..." Nino got up and went to her room, hugging her plushie tightly. She looked at it and smiled.
"Thanks Uesugi..."
...
" Yo Yamagishi, why'd you suddenly call me over?" Fuutarou questioned as he entered Yamagishi's room.
"I got word from the Governor of Tokyo. He want us to be the Musashi Festival to serve as 'private security consultants'." He explained to Fuutarou. The leader of Toman raised an eyebrow.
"Why would he? And why us? Oh and I got lunch for you on the way." Fuutarou handed Yamagishi a plastic bag. Yamagishi gratefully took it.
"Thanks... I was planning to go out but you just saved me time." The brown haired boy muttered before he returned to the main point.
"Ever since that Moebius case went live on the news, a bunch of gangs in Tokyo are getting brave. Now they're stirring up trouble everywhere they can in Tokyo, following Moebius' example, wanting to make a name for themselves." Yamagishi glanced at Fuutarou as he ate.
"The reasons are simple, since the police are now stretched thin, and festivals are magnets for chaos, a single public incident would be a political nightmare. Hiring us is their way of risk management, one dominant predator discourages the smaller ones." He explained. Fuutarou shook his head.
"Yeah but why us? We're still a gang no matter how you look at it."
"Because, we're the only ones that can be reasoned with. We don't have a track record of causing trouble unlike other Yakuza or gangs around here. The governor sees us as 'trustworthy', though there's no trust at all."
"You know if something goes wrong, we'll be the ones blamed for this." Fuutarou commented.
"Nah, they'll blame 'unknown actors', and if nothing goes wrong, the governor praises law enforcement anyway. Everyone keeps their hands clean by never shaking them in public."
"You have to remember that we're fighting Moebius that day." Fuutarou reminded.
"But the fight's not happening near the festival right? That boundary matters. Outside that radius, the rules loosen. Make it so that it never happened in the first place."
"With Haki on the table? No chance someone's not going to notice."
" There's an empty abandoned lot far from where the festival is. Y'all neeed to settle your scores without touching the celebration at all costs. My family's going there, I want them to have a good time." Yamagishi requested. Fuutarou nodded.
"Well, I don't need to worry about Moebius disturbing the festival. They lost their leader, they play by our rules." He muttered as Yamagishi sighed.
"When are you going to disband Toman, Fuutarou? I'm tired of constantly seeing the dark side of this world. And I don't want my family to have targets on their backs anymore. I can't even go to school without constantly looking behind me."
"Soon, Yamagishi. We have a couple of regions remaining." Fuutarou reassured.
"And how long is that going to take? Why do keep dragging this? I sure as hell know that you yourself don't even want to do it anymore." Fuutarou sighed at Yamagishi's complaint.
"I don't know... I don't know man. I guess I'm just scared of letting go. I had a hand in building this empire of ours, to let it go the moment we have everything is... scary."
"Are you scared about that? Or are you really just scared of how Mikey would react?" He immediately looked up at Yamagishi frowning.
"Mikey is... unpredictable... He's the one that can't let go...Not me..." Fuutarou chuckled to himself, a sad smile forming.
"I don't know anymore, Yamagishi. I just know that Toman cannot exist forever..."
"Then to hell with what Mikey thinks..."
To be continued...