Chapter Text
“I have high hopes son.”
“T-Thank you sir, I promise I won’t let you down!”
Futaro Uesugi pressed the end key on his cell phone and let out a big sigh. He was just on the phone with the father of the five sisters he would be tutoring as of today. He was just a little peeved at the fact the number of people was not disclosed, but considering the high pay, he was in no position to complain.
He steps inside from the balcony of their apartment and sits down on the couch. Glancing around, he doesn't see anyone on the first floor.
Sigh “Where did those girls go?” he lets out sluggishly.
“To their rooms,” replies Yotsuba, the second youngest of the five. He quickly whips his head around and sees her standing behind him.
“Yotsuba, was it? You were the one that got the zero.” she rubs the back of her head with embarrassment.
“Hehehe…” she lets out. Futaro could still hardly believe one could do that bad on a test. It was actually kind of impressive.
“Could you furrow your brow for a sec?”
Yotsuba looks at him funny for a second, then complies, slightly confused. Futaro could definitely see the resemblance between and her sisters. Yet they were all so different personality wise.
“Thanks for not running away to your room with the rest of them,” Futaro says.
She relaxes her face, “Oh I wouldn’t dream of it! I thought we would have a scary tutor, but since you’re our classmate, it’s cool! Cmon, let's go grab the others!”
Futaro feels a big grin form on his face, ecstatic at her enthusiasm. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Can I hug you right now?”
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As they walk up the stairs, he notices a strange object mounted on the wall. It’s an arrow, clearly very old, and very well made. There is a strange pattern on the arrowhead, and the whole thing is about a half meter long.
“What’s this?”
“Oh, f-family heirloom,” Yotsuba replies nervously. Futaro was confused by her slight stutter at first, but quickly forgets about it and moves on.
After checking in with a few of the sisters, and quickly learning they won’t be as cooperative as Yotsuba, he is stopped by Miku, the middle sister outside Ichika, the oldest’s room.
“Futaro, I want to ask you something. I’m missing my gym clothes. A red tracksuit.”
He looks at her confused. Did she think he took it?
“Haven’t seen it. Look some more.” he says snarkily.
“I’ll be blunt, did you take it?” He called it.
“Why would I be interested in that? Also I was with Yotsuba the entire time!”
Yotsuba glances over from the other side of the upstairs, just outside. “He’s telling the truth!” she calls out.
“Look-” Miku starts to speak, but is quickly cut off by Nino, the second oldest, calling from downstairs. Upon a quick glance, the two notice she is wearing the missing tracksuit jacket.
“Hey! I made some extra cookies by accident, you guys want some?”
Miku quickly walks towards the steps, beginning to scold Nino for taking her things. Futaro sighs and begins to follow, Yotsuba and Ichika in tow. He walks down the stairs while watching Miku and Nino banter, but halfway down he notices the arrow again. Something about it keeps calling to him.
However his carelessness bit him back instantly, and he trips down the stairs as he looks at the arrow.
“W-Wah!” he says, beginning to fall down forwards, directly toward the floor. The sisters have a variety of reactions to this. Itsuki, the youngest, looks worried, Nino starts to chuckle, and Miku just watches. However, these reactions all quickly turn to shock when they realize one thing. When he fell he tried to reach for something to grab, he shot both his arms out trying to stop himself, and on his way down, his hand hit the head of the arrow, causing a cut to form on his hand.
He finally hits the floor, landing on his hands and knees. He starts to curse under his breath, and looks up at his hand.
He hears a thud behind him. When he looks backwards at the staircase, he notices the arrow got knocked out of its mount on his fall down. It’s now flat about halfway up the stairs.
He looks up and sees four of the five girls crowding around him, while Itsuki runs over to the arrow, the tip now covered in blood. All at once the four girls start to bombard him with questions.
“Are you alright Uesugi-san!?”
“What the hell did you do Uesugi!?”
“Are you feeling alright Futaro-kun!?”
“How did you trip!?”
Futaro’s confused by their sudden concern. Although he is quickly overtaken by guilt, and starts apologizing frantically.
“I'm sorry! I didn't mean to mess up your family heirloom, I’ll pay for damages, I’ll leave you alone about the tutoring, I’ll do anything!” he feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns around and sees Itsuki there.
“It’s quite alright. It doesn’t appear to be damaged in any way. A quick rinse will do the trick.”
He let out a sigh of relief. The last thing his family needed was to be in debt to a rich family, much less the one he was trying to get hired by.
Itsuki looks down at his hand.
“More importantly, are you alright? We should bandage that before you bleed out all over the floor.”
“R-Right…” he says walking over to a kitchen stool and sitting down. Itsuki walks over to a cabinet and pulls out a roll of gauze. He can see the other four side eyeing him from the living room, whilst whispering to themselves.
Itsuki walks over to him and grabs his hand. She gazes carefully at the cut.
“Oh, I can do it myself,” he interjects.
“Hm? A-All right.”
He grabs the gauze from her hand and leans over in order to wrap it around his cut. It’s not that deep, so it should heal within a week or so.
He finishes and stands up, facing the Nakano sisters. “I think it’s best if I go home for the night. However, I’m not giving up on you five. Please reconsider letting me tutor you.” As disappointed as he is at their unenthusiasm, he desperately needs the money.
Miku sighs, “I’m sorry, but as I said before, we-”
“We’ll consider it.”
Everyone quickly turns to who spoke. It was Nino, and she has a grin on her face.
Miku glares at her. “N-Nino!? But we don’t need a tutor.”
Nino quickly snaps back. “It’s not like we have the best grades in the world! Maybe we do need his help.”
Futaro could hardly believe it. He thought she would be the one who needed the most convincing, but all of a sudden she wanted his help? He looked at her with a smile.
“Thank you, Nino. Really.”
“Yeah yeah, now go home already! That cut isn’t gonna heal itself!” she replies.
Ichika looks at her confused. “I’m pretty sure it will, that’s how cuts work.”
Yotsuba snorts with laughter, and Itsuki just sighs. Futaro heads to the door, and looks behind. “Goodnight, thanks for having me.”
“Come back tomorrow after school!” Nino calls out.
After he steps out Miku, turns to Nino and starts to scold her. “We don’t need our classmate as a tutor!”
“Oh please, you think I care about our grades?” She replies, still smiling. Miku’s annoyed expression quickly turns to curiosity, and Ichika’s face lights up with realization of what Nino means.
“You don’t think he has a-”
“Only one way to find out. He cut himself on the arrow after all.” Nino interjects. “I honestly couldn’t care less about what he has to offer as a tutor.”
She walks over to the couch and sits down, resting her head on her hand.
“But as a stand user? That’s a different story.”
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Futaro steps into his cramped house. As he walks into the walkway, he sees his father sitting down, and his little sister Raiha in the kitchen. She hears him enter, and turns around.
“Welcome home big bro! How was the tutor-” She quickly notices the bandage on his hand. “Are you okay!? What happened to your hand!?”
His dad glances over and his eyes widen at the bandages around his hand, now slightly bloodied.
“Yikes, some tutoring session!”
Futaro rolls his eyes at his comment. “It’s fine, I slipped and hit my hand on a sharp object. I thought I should go home for the night.” He wanted to tell them about how hit or miss the whole visit was, but that would upset his sister. That was the last thing this night needed. Raiha relaxes a little bit.
“A-Alright, dinner’s almost ready.” she says. Truth be told, he did not have much of an appetite, but considering their financial situation, he couldn’t afford to not eat.
He finishes up his meal and decides to go to bed early. Normally he would study for about an hour before sleeping, but he feels really exhausted all of a sudden. Futaro raises his hand and examines the bandage. It looks like the bleeding stopped, so that isn’t why he’s so tired.
“I hope it’s not tetanus,” he says to himself. The arrow didn’t look rusty, so it was unlikely, but not impossible. He changes into his pajamas, and crawls into bed. Sleep is the best medicine for exhaustion after all. He closes his eyes and drifts into sleep.
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In the middle of the night Futaro is awoken with excruciating nausea. He quickly gets up and runs to the bathroom, kneeling down in front of the toilet and letting out the vomit from his mouth. This definitely wasn’t tetanus. He got it all out of his system and washed his face in the sink.
However, when he looked up, it wasn’t himself staring back at him.
It was something else, something nonhuman. It had a gray, oval shaped head, with bright yellow eyes that looked more like lights than eyes. He yelped out in shock and jumped backwards, hitting the bathroom wall and falling to the floor. He slowly stood up and looked back at the mirror.
He saw himself staring back at him. The thing was gone.
“Oh god, now I'm hallucinating.”
The door swung open and Raiha ran in, concerned at the loud thud. “Big bro! Are you alright!?’
He looked up at her, feeling guilty at waking her up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” he let out. Raiha looked back at him with wide eyes. “Are you feeling alright?”
“I’m fine, just a little nauseous,” he lied. Raiha didn’t need more on her mind right now. He would just go to the doctor tomorrow if he still felt sick.
“Oh, alright…” she said, still very concerned. Futaro got up and walked back to his room, going back to bed. The nausea was a lot better, but still not completely gone, and sleep drifted over him once again.
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Futaro woke up feeling amazing.
In fact, this was probably the best he’d felt in a while. He must’ve eaten something bad yesterday, which caused the nausea. Thank god he didn’t have to go to the hospital.
He was in a good mood the whole day, and was excited to get back to work tutoring the Nakano sisters. However, one thing kept bugging at him.
Nino seemed a lot more interested after he hurt his hand. Plus the fact he got sick right after. Actually, he already wasn’t feeling great before he ate, so it couldn’t have been food poisoning.
Whatever , he thought. If she wants me to tutor her, I'm not backing down. We need that money.
After school, he heads back to the Nakano’s apartment. When he knocks, almost immediately Nino opens the door.
“Welcome! Thanks for coming,” she says ecstatically.
“T-Thanks for having me…” he replies, still shocked at her attitude.
As they walk in, Futaro notices the other four sitting down in the living room.
“Pardon the intrusion,” he says, sitting down on the couch. Nino plops down next to him. Miku sighs and protests the situation. “I still don’t think we need a tutor.” Itsuki speaks up next.
“I'm afraid I must agree. I think we can suffice without your assistance.”
Futaro smiles and reaches into his bag. He pulls out five identical packets.
“Prove it.”
Confusion floods the room. “These are practice tests. Whoever passes, I will never speak to again.”
A variety of reactions come from the sisters. Ichika smiles at his determination. Itsuki looks confident. Nino looks annoyed.
Wasn’t me coming back here her idea?
“Very well,” Itsuki says, grabbing the paper. The rest of the sisters follow. “How many points to pass?” Miku asks.
“Let's say 50 points.”
“Hmph, you better not be underestimating us,” says Nino.
They quickly got to work, and after about 20 minutes, they were all finished. As Futaro is grading their exams he doesn’t notice their whispering.
“Are you sure about this Nino?” asks Miku.
“Absolutely.”
“Don’t you think you’re giving him the wrong idea? Asking him to come back yesterday was a pretty forward move,” Ichika says.
“It doesn’t matter, we’ll see soon enough.”
“Very well,” states Itsuki.
Four of the sisters walk off to their rooms, except for Nino. She stares at Futaro carefully, trying to examine any signs of what she’s looking for.
“How’s the grading going?” she asks, trying to get his attention.
“Let’s just say, not looking good for you five.” he replies sarcastically.
“How were you feeling last night?” That got his attention. He looked up at her puzzled, then noticed the others gone. “Where did they-”
“Any nausea or exhaustion?” His eyes widened.
“How did you-”
“So it’s true.” She gets up from the seat next to him, and walks to the arrow. She stares at it, confusing Futaro even more.
“Did that thing give me an infection!?” he blurts out, now very concerned at her accurate account of how he felt the previous night. She giggles for a second, before turning around.
“Not exactly. You know, this thing is more than meets the eye. It’s been with me and my sisters for as long as we’ve been alive.”
Futaro was now confused even more, at all of it. He didn’t even know what to ask, there was only one thing that came out his mouth.
“What?”
Nino’s smile turns serious. “Do you have one?”
“Do I have a what?”
Nino slowly walks toward him. But as she does, a figure emerges from her. A humanoid creature, like what he saw in the mirror. It has red skin, with an equally red sun hat on. It wasn't wearing any clothes, and seemed to have no human features other than the general body shape, along with a normal enough looking face. Its skin was littered with various tattoos, with a variety of phrases and words. However the biggest phrase of all was right across the chest, and it said two words.
Cherry Bomb.
Futaro jumped up and fell off the back of the couch. Nino’s face lit up with excitement at the realization he was able to see the figure.
“You can see it!? Then you do have one!”
“W-What the hell is that thing!?” Futaro yelled out. Nino approached closer, with the figure floating beside her.
“This is called a Stand. It’s the manifestation of my soul. And the fact is, Futaro Uesugi, you have one as well!”
“W-What are you talking about!?” he said, backing up towards the door. Nino quickly responded.
“Only other Stand users can see other Stands. You awakened to yours when you cut yourself on the arrow.” He glanced toward the arrow, then back at Nino. He had only one thought on his mind now.
He had to get out of here.
Futaro quickly sprinted toward the door, grabbed the handle and ran out of the apartment. As he practically flung himself down the stairs, a million questions ran through his mind. None of which could be answered right now. As he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he spots the worst possible sight in this situation.
Nino, leaning against the wall in the lobby.
“You didn’t think it would be that easy would you?” How the hell get ahead of him? The elevator would be slower.
“What do you want from me!?” Futaro yells.
“Look, I just want to know more about your stand. Could you bring it out please?” Futaro glares at her with a mix of anger and confusion. “And how the hell do I do that!?” Nino’s face looks puzzled, but then she realizes the nature of her request.
“Oh right, it’s not really something I can explain in words. Guess I’ll have to bring it out myself!” Nino lifts her hand and her stand appears once again, however instead of it charging him, two chains appear from the corners of the floor and restrain his legs, causing him to be unable to move.
“C-Chains!? What the hell are you doing!?” Futaro cried out. Nino and her Stand start approaching him, as he tries and fails to struggle his way out of the chains.
“I’m sorry, but this is the only way to awaken your stand.” The red figure got in front of him, and winded back, ready to punch him in the face. Futaro covered himself with his hands, trying to protect himself. “That won’t stop me! Attack, Cherry Bomb!”
He closes his eyes and braces for impact.
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Stand Name: Cherry Bomb
User: Nino Nakano
Destructive Power: A
Speed: B
Range: C
Stamina: C
Precision: C
Potential: C