Chapter Text
Futaro Uesugi moves quickly down the second floor hallways of Asahiyama high school.
His pace may seem rushed, but from the outside, a witness would say it was natural and calm.
His lunch period was ending soon, and he was getting back to class early. Futaro is number one in his year, so it may seem like he was in a rush to get back to class and learn.
It wasn't.
“Itsuki,” he calls out. His body takes a firm step and stops.
Roughly two meters ahead of him, a young woman also came to a halt. The girl still faced ahead in the hall, but she clearly heard him.
Since it was between periods, there were only a few other people in the corridor. It was a bright day in September, so plenty of light came in from the row of windows on the wall.
Itsuki Nakano slowly turns towards him.
The brunette had long hair with a pink tint. It almost seemed red. There are two hairpins on each side of her bangs. Each one is yellow and shaped like a star.
On top of her head, was a pair of red framed eyeglasses. She is farsighted, so did not always need to wear them. She had a book in her hands so she must have been reading it.
Her favorite color is red, so her sweater vest matches her glasses. The rest of her outfit is the school uniform.
It was clear to Futaro that she had a smile on her face just moments before she turned to him. He imagines, with her love of food, that her grin was related to a generous meal. Something that is still on her mind nearly fifteen minutes later.
As his voice reached her brain, the sight of him registered, this blissful smile quickly changed to a cold grimace.
The light in her eyes faded and the world turned gray. Only in her view though.
Futaro Uesugi shoots her a cocky grin. He begins to narrow the distance between them. As he does, his golden eyes catch a flash of light from the lens of her glasses.
“What is it, Uesugi,” she asks. Her voice is drowning in venom.
He laughs it off. A fake chuckle.
“I wanted to ask if you needed to go over anything from the morning classes.”
She just stares at him. To her, he is not even a peer, and worse than a stranger.
He laughs off the silence.
The young man moves in closer. “Actually,” he whispers, “I noticed you had some food or something on your shoulder. Would you allow me to remove it for you?” He grins. “I wouldn't want you to embarrass yourself.”
Her cerulean eyes stared at his golden ones for thirty seconds. Their faces were less than 6 inches apart.
She sighs and rolls her eyes. She moves her shoulder forward in a welcoming position.
“Please,” she relents.
He puts one hand on her head, and the other on her shoulder. He delicately removes something from her upper arm and flicks it aside. She watches it fly away.
“There,” he muses. The boy takes one step back from her. “That wasn't so bad, huh?”
She gives him a fragile glare.
He laughs it off. “Well, just because we're enemies, it doesn't mean we can't be friends.”
She looks confused.
“That's exactly–”
He laughs, cutting her speech off short. “You're too serious,” he lies. With a wave he walks ahead of her and into their classroom nearby.
Futaro quickly takes his seat. From there, he pretends to be asleep. The room is still mostly empty since he was early back to class.
Itsuki thought about going in, but to avoid him, decides to go to class 2-2 next door to see one of her sisters.
Itsuki was the youngest of a set of quintuplets. Rare, shocking, but nothing to write home about for her or Futaro at this point. Nothing to dwell on right now.
Futaro Uesugi is the top ranked student in the 2nd year of students here. His personality was study, study, and more study. Everyone pretty much ignored him. He is a loser in their eyes, but they respected him enough not to pick on him.
There weren't bullies out to get him. He was that far under their radar.
The bald rat of a teacher for his class was a different matter. He hated how much Uesugi knew, and was constantly trying to trick him.
So when he walks into the class and sees this student full of hubris, he bites his lip. He can't stand that Futaro isn't even studying right now.
“Uesugi,” the teacher calls.
The boy does not react. Remember, he is only faking being asleep.
“Uesugi!”
A girl in the back chuckles at seeing the teacher be so pathetic.
The teacher groans.
Futaro sits up slowly. He fakes a yawn. Lying is acting. He is a lazy actor, but still an actor right now.
“Ah, sensei, you didn't quit?”
The girl in the back, Nanami, hides a laugh.
The teacher glares at the boy. “Uesugi, please help pass out this worksheet for the next class.”
“No.”
“No?!?”
“I don't want to. It's a favor to you, so that means I can choose not to, right?”
The teacher taps the podium. “Uesugi, you–!” The older man stops and laughs to himself. He puts on a fake smile. “Would you please hand it out?”
Futaro hums in consideration. “Alright,” he agrees. He stands up at his desk and starts to the front of the class. “I wouldn't want to owe you another time, so I will do you this favor today.”
The teacher grimaces. He can't get one over this stupid teen.
“I appreciate it,” the mentor manages to irk out through a false grin.
Futaro takes the stack of handouts and begins to go down the rows of class.
As he does, the class begins to return from lunch, including Itsuki.
“I can't believe he got you to hand these out,” jokes one of his classmates.
Futaro ignores them and continues.
The classmates shrug it off. They all return to ignoring him. Itsuki watches him for a few desks, but stops when he goes out of her field of vision.
No one pays him attention as he starts down the next aisles.
At least, as far as he notices.
When he comes to Itsuki's desk, she taps his hand to get his attention. He gives it. She looks away with a blush. “Yotsuba…wants to know your contact info.”
He looks towards the wall so that he can grin. Then he looks back to her with a cold, straight look.
“I'm impressed,” he admits. “I can't believe she had you ask me.”
Itsuki groans. “I didn't want her coming in here and asking,” the girl explains. “So just make sure to see her later.”
“Well, she did say she was interested in lessons.”
“You're a quack,” Itsuki argues. Then she gets frustrated. “O-or whatever the quack equivalent of a tutor is. She should just stay on the plan I came up with.”
Futaro scoffs. “Yes, well, supplemental lessons can only increase her scores.” He smirks. “You do know what supplemental is, right?”
She chokes on her comeback. She stopped him for too long. People are starting to notice them talking. She wanted to have nothing to do with him.
“Anyway, just see her later, Uesugi.” She stressed his family name to separate their closeness.
“As you command, Itsuki.” He stressed her given name.
She glares. He gives a playful one back.
Then he moves on.
He eventually finishes the task. He makes a point to clear his throat.
“Sir, the task is done,” he says like it is beneath him.
A worksheet was on every desk in the room except for the one in Uesugi's hand.
He takes his seat. Somehow even though he left with his notebook closed and in his desk, it was out and opened to a fresh page.
This made the teacher increase his frustration with the boy.
He had purposely made one less paper than the class attendance log, so now the teacher was scanning the room for where Futaro skipped a student. It was his intent to pick Futaro to do the handout and then call him out on his failure to complete the task.
He is confused so starts to mentally count the class. They all had a sheet, but the number of students was also correct.
The teacher's eyes dart to Futaro. He must not have a handout…
Yet Futaro somehow has it.
Futaro looks at him with a quizzical view. “Is something wrong?” There is a pause so pregnant the silence had twins. “Teach?”
The bald man turns red in anger. He isn't sure how, but he is certain that Uesugi once again outsmarted him.
The answer is simple. Futaro stole the teacher's original copy. The teacher is using their rough draft and is not aware yet.
There is a chime letting all know that classes have resumed.
Sensei cools down their anger and begins the literature lesson.
At a certain point, the teacher starts to write on the board. He references the handout.
As he turns to the class, he notices Itsuki is searching her bag desperately.
“Nakano. What's going on?”
Itsuki feels seen and put on the spot. She is flustered and a nervous wreck at the same moment. She is naturally clumsy, so drops a few items onto the floor.
She quickly picks them up. Takes a breath, and then collects herself enough to look at the teacher.
“I-I'm having trouble.”
“With what?” The teacher is innocently a rude person. It definitely sounded like he had an attitude.
“I can't find–”
“You're disturbing the class,” he summarizes. “Please read the next passage for me. Since you want the attention.”
Itsuki looked ready to cry. Still, she gulped, and bolstered her courage.
“She can't read,” Uesugi announces loudly.
Itsuki snaps her face to him. “Can too!”
The class snickers.
He points at his face. “I mean, you lost your glasses.”
The teacher looks at her. He finally realizes the issue.
“Ah, they must be there if you have them. If not, we won't ridicule you if you have to look closely at the book.”
“She's farsighted,” Uesugi laughs. “Maybe if you hold up your book, she can read it.”
Everyone was annoyed by him.
Itsuki is tense. She is nervous with everyone watching her. Even if they get distracted by the stupid things Futaro says.
Except he is advocating for her.
Which is suspicious to her.
She gasps and points at him. “You took my glasses!”
He scoffs. “When?”
She jerks forwards as she stands. It causes her desk to move and her pen to fall to the floor.
“When you gave me this stupid handout!’
“Didn't happen,” Uesugi dismissed. “We were speaking when I gave you that, and you didn't have them out. Anyway, why would I bother? Itsuki?”
The class was tense having heard him say her first name. What was going on between them?
“You're pretty…clumsy,” Uesugi says, strategically. He honestly did not take her glasses while attending to the task of handing out the leaflets. He is honest. “And stupid. You probably lost them at lunch.”
A young man sitting to Itsuki's right and one desk up stands up. He was a handsome boy. His image was manufactured to conform to the norm and try to impress girls and potential friends.
“Bullshit, Uesugi,” the boy announced. His brown eyes and black styled hair shifted as he pointed at our villain. “Just confess.”
Futaro looks confused. “Who are you again?”
“Daisuke Shikamura,” he smugly announced. He makes sure to glance at Itsuki briefly and then back to his foe.
She is still glaring at Futaro. Not paying Daisuke any attention like usual.
The young man with gold eyes and a terrible haircut shrugs. “I don't know you. Please sit down.”
Daisuke moves to assault Futaro, who sits two rows away. Except that Daisuke snags his desk leg with his foot, so ends up deciding to stay stranded where he is. The desk moving had made a noise and it was a little embarrassing to him.
He growls instead.
“I assure you, I don't have Itsuki's eyewear.” Futaro waves off the accusation. “I'm willing to do the reading in her stead though.” He looks at the teacher with a grin. “I'd love for both you and her to owe me a favor.”
“Isn't it rude for you to say her name?” A girl nearby asks this.
“Yeah.” Other classmates agree.
Daisuke recovers. “Exactly. How dare you be so rude?!?”
Futaro shrugs. “I have permission.”
They all awkwardly look at the girl with stars.
She nods after some hesitation.
“He…he knows my sister. So…it would be confusing if he called us both Nakano.”
She does not advertise how many sisters she has. Itsuki hates when they are a spectacle.
“So that's besides the issue,” she argues with new energy. “Let's not get hung up on that.”
Some of the class murmurs about her and Uesugi. How close are these two? Just friends of friends? They did sit together her first day at lunch, just a week or so ago. It caused a minor stir to see the loser that is Uesugi sitting with a beautiful girl.
Of course everyone also saw that it ended with each of them angry at the other.
Itsuki and Futaro stared at each other. He was calm and had a cocky smirk. She was trying nervously to appear equal to him.
Class had gotten off track at this point.
“Show us your desk,” Daisuke challenges. “Your bag.”
“Excuse me?”
“Prove you didn't steal her glasses.”
Overall, no one else cares. They do agree with Daisuke since he is popular. Obviously the culprit is this annoying sack of knowledge and destroyer of fun, Futaro Uesugi.
That boy with the high scores, breaks into a laugh. It is loud. It is confident. It is sharp. Then it stops suddenly.
“I'm not doing that. It's beneath me.”
“That's what a guilty person says.”
“So does an innocent one as well.”
The two young men are now in a staring contest where only Futaro is stubborn enough to prevail.
A student towards the front of class shifts. “Just show us what's in your desk.”
Futaro shakes his head.
“Do it.”
“C'mon.”
“I don't want to waste more time.”
“Don't do it, Uesugi. I don't want to learn today.”
“Don't give into peer pressure,” someone jokes.
“Do it, Uesugi!”
They all stop.
The teacher hits the podium. “Uesugi,” he grins, “please show us the contents of your desk and bag.”
He finally would crush this brat. There is a new opportunity the teacher was not aware of now presenting itself.
After a brief moment, as he scans the room, Futaro stands.
“Sure. But I only trust Itsuki to do it. I think the rest of you are trouble.”
They all boo.
He stands by the window and a meter from his desk.
Itsuki scans the room. She stands up and moves over a row to his desk.
She pulls out his neatly stowed items from the desk. Placing them on the top of said furniture.
Just his school supplies.
She opens his bag and removes just study guides and flashcards. A pencil or two. His student handbook.
“What a nerd,” someone says.
There's nothing else.
She turns and looks at him.
He is not smirking, but appears calm.
“So, I don't have them, right? Just as advertised.”
She nods.
A few male classmates get up and rush over. He triggered them.
“Stop,” the teacher says.
They pause.
Futaro and Itsuki are looking at each other. Trying to get a read on the other.
“So…that's that,” he says. “I'm innocent.”
“So…I'm just an idiot then? Who loses their glasses?”
Futaro considers this. He looks past her to Daisuke. He decides to be bold.
“Nah…but…also, the shoe fits, right?”
The male classmate nearest to him grabs his collar. They stop there and let him go.
“If I knew your name,” Futaro says with a smile, “I may be insulted. As it is…I think we can still be colleagues.”
Daisuke snaps. “He clearly has them in his pocket or something! Let's search him and throw him out the window! Good riddance!”
Everyone looks at Daisuke a little surprised.
“I'm letting this guy get to me,” Daisuke laughs. “But, let's search him. C'mon.”
“If you do, I sue.”
They all stop.
Futaro looks at the teacher with a grin. “Since this has to happen,” he looks at Daisuke, “then maybe Itsuki should also search my body for the glasses as well.”
Everyone chokes.
Daisuke nearly jumps across the aisles.
Futaro laughs.
“I'm kidding. I have no interest in anything other than school.” Futaro empties his cardigan pockets. He takes it off and hands it to the male classmate nearby to inspect.
He empties his other pockets.
He looks at the teacher again.
“Please pat me down, sir. To confirm there's nothing left.”
It is quiet.
The teacher nods their head and begins to walk back to him.
“This is wrong,” Itsuki admits. “Th-that's a true invasion of privacy.”
Everyone feels upset. The teacher stops their trek. There is an awkwardness on the air manufactured by Uesugi.
“But…is he human?”
“Isn't he a robot?”
“Beep boop,” someone laughs.
It's quiet again. The teacher resumes their walk towards Futaro.
Itsuki is starting to cry.
Just as the teacher nears Futaro; When the room is tense you can hear the sound of atoms colliding.
It is just then…that Futaro puts a hand up.
“I know the truth,” he admits.
Everyone stops. A gasp throughout the room. Held breaths.
“I mean, who else would know the answer, right?” He chuckles. “Daisuke, you got a crush on Itsuki, huh?”
Everyone looks at the handsome young man. He is so startled he steps back a little.
“Wh-what?!?”
“I mean, I'm not well-versed on the subject, but I purposely said things to see how you'd react. About Itsuki.”
“What do you mean?”
“What is it the kids say,” Futaro asks. “You have the hots for Nakano?”
Everyone agreed that was old-fashioned to say. They also all were still focused on Daisuke.
“Wh-what does this have to–”
“You stole her glasses,” Futaro declares. “You thought you'd take them, pretend to be a hero, and give them back. You just didn't think this would all become some big blow up in class, so now you're just trying to dig your way out without looking bad.”
Itsuki turns to Daisuke.
“Is…is all that true?”
Daisuke shakes his head. His face is beet red. “No. Of course not. I would never. I mean, wait, I do think you're pretty and interesting, but I'd never steal, I mean–”
Futaro points at him so hard, people thought they were seeing an Ace Attorney cosplay in-person.
“She's a new transfer student you haven't tried to woo. She doesn't know you. So, just confess.”
“It's not true!”
Everyone was conflicted. They trusted Daisuke. He was their friend. A classmate who they considered a peer. Much more reliable than Futaro.
But…Uesugi is smart. He's weird, but he is so disinterested in everyone, so why would he steal the glasses?
Uesugi annoys them and throws off any curve, but they don't actually hate him. They like watching the teacher squirm because of him.
What he said about Daisuke makes the most sense.
A small voice in the back of class is heard. She is clearing her throat to get attention.
Nanami Kitagawa, a mousy girl with messy hair that covered her eyes was the source. She looked like she was asleep, with her head in her elbows. She sits up and points at Daisuke's desk.
“Nakano, are your glasses red, perhaps?”
No one remembers ever hearing this girl talk. The boys thought she was cute, but one or those unattainable girls that is a ghost.
Itsuki nods. “Y-yes.”
“I can see red glasses in Shikamura's desk.”
Everyone cranes their head to see.
Before Daisuke can react, Itsuki is already there. She is taking her glasses from his desk.
Everyone holds their breath.
“They're mine,” Itsuki confirms. “Why did you let this drag on so long, Shikamura? Why did you accuse Uesugi like that?!?”
Some of the class had stood up and now turned their attention to Daisuke.
“I-I-I didn't–I mean, I couldn't–this isn't true!”
“You're caught red-handed, man.”
“How disgusting.”
“I'm sorry, Uesugi.”
“Yeah, can you forgive us?”
“Ew, and I had a crush on him.”
“What a lazy pickup artist.”
“What a loser.”
“I mean, Nakano is cute, but to commit a crime cute…I don't know, man.”
Daisuke ended up grabbing his bag and leaving the class for the day.
Everyone continues to chat about the situation.
Futaro and Itsuki were still standing. She turns to him and they catch the eye of one another.
Before she says anything, Futaro bows towards her.
He uprights himself.
“I appreciate you defending a loser like me,” he shoots off.
It catches her and the bystanders off guard to hear. Especially their teacher. The bald rat decides to return to the front of the room.
He had lost as well by pinning his hopes on Daisuke.
Itsuki numbly nods.
“I'm sorry, Uesugi.”
“Oh?” He wonders. The young man issues a quick laugh. “Apology…not accepted.”
He promptly turns and takes his seat.
She stands there shell-shocked.
The class members that heard it, aren't sure who to side with, and find both Itsuki and Futaro to be victims and correct in how they responded.
Class isn't able to really get back on track, even after everyone sat down.
They end up moving on to other subjects and classes. They don't see Daisuke come back.
The day eventually ends.
Everyone is happy to get out of the room as quickly as possible. This day seriously needed a reboot.
The last to leave is Futaro.
At least that's what he thought.
When he stands up, he sees that way back at the end of the classroom, the mousy girl from before was still there.
She wore the regular uniform but a combination of the summer skirt with a long sleeve black winter polo as the top. Her bare skin showing on her legs made it clear all of her height was focused on those extremities. Overall, she was beautiful, but very underwhelming so passes under the radar.
She laughs. “I don't know you well, but I know you don't know names very well.”
“Yes, I only memorize names that would be on a test.”
“And Nakano.” She points out. They watch one another. “I'm Nanami.”
He makes a worried noise. “That's not a
proper name.”
“If you call her by first name, even if for a good reason, you can call me by mine.”
“If I remember it,” he notes.
“Yes. If.”
There is quiet.
“Why did you put her glasses in his desk,” she asks.
“That…didn't happen.”
“You did.”
“No.”
“It was when you were handing out the worksheets. You quickly put them in his desk.”
“You are a fiction writer?”
She scoffs. “I saw you.”
He doesn't confirm or deny.
“So you…took them at lunch?”
He doesn't confirm or deny.
She sighs. “I'm grateful. That you did it.”
“I didn't,” he corrects her. “But why are you so grateful?”
Nanami reconfirmed that they were alone. She walks towards him. Until they are touching elbows.
“I used to be pretty outgoing. I don't know if you realized it, but I'm a solid 10.” She wasn't really bragging. “And then last year I met Daisuke.”
“I'm not interested.”
“So he followed me around. Tried to ask me out.” Nanami has a sweet face, but it suddenly becomes sour. “He basically stalked me and kept asking me out. Always touching my arm when he could. Then he ditched me and started insulting me when I refused him. And he had everyone turn their noses at me so–”
“I don't care,” Futaro reminds her.
She stops and looks at the floor.
He sighs.
“Look, I could tell he was that sort of guy. So…if I helped highlight him and saved someone from him…then…I don't know. I don't care, really.”
Nanami reaches out to him.
“I know you don't care. That's why I helped you. Because even if you're ignorant, or emotionless, you still saw an answer. You aren't as hopeless as everyone thinks. Even you.”
He looks at her hand on his arm. Then back to her mostly covered brown eyes. She was wearing a school cardigan like his, but on her it was very baggy.
“I'm just trying to earn some money.”
“Sure.” She chuckles. “How did this manage to do that?”
Futaro is quiet.
“Are you aware that I met Itsuki in the school canteen last week?”
She nods. “Yep. It was some hot gossip for an hour.”
Futaro touches his bangs. He notices this tic of his, so quickly frees his hair.
“She asked me to be her tutor,” he admits.
“Huh?”
“But I refused,” he points out. “And then I found out her father was gonna pay me a whole bunch of money to do it.”
“Ah, so that's where the money comes in.”
“So then I got the job, the end,” he sums up. He quickly strides away.
Being more athletic, Nanami blocks his path.
“No, that can't be right.”
He sighs. “Yes, well, before I could take the job, she got me fired.”
She blinks.
“Really?”
“Affirmative.”
Nanami considers what she knows and what he's telling her.
She gives a shrewd look. “I'll say this honestly up front, so don't let it go to your head, but you're clearly very knowledgeable, but…you seem like you'd be a bad tutor.”
He balks. “Wh-what?” He got whiplash from the compliment insult.
“I just mean, you are explaining this very poorly and then adding your own lies. You suck at this social thing.”
He chuckles. “There's time for that later. Right now I gotta get the skills to become someone who is needed in the future. Someone who doesn't worry about debt or want of power.”
She stares in disbelief through her bangs.
“Wha…I mean…” She shakes her head.
Nanami realizes how dumb he is. Naive. Still, she didn't hate the guy.
“This logic is flawed,” she informs him. “There's more than one way to do that. One way is networking. Personally, I hate it, but it's a powerful tool.”
Uesugi puts his hand to his chin and nods. This does make sense. He is keeping a mental note.
“So, you have my permission to start now. You can call me, Nanami.”
“You flatter me, Kitagawa.” So it was a lie he didn't know her name? “Sadly, however, I'm not interested in dating you.”
She freezes. Then laughs. Then laughs and laughs and laughs. She turns red from the activity, and his ears go red from embarrassment.
“I get the point,” he snaps.
She stops with one last hiccup of a chuckle. She wipes a tear from her eye.
“No insult intended, but this is definitely a friendship.”
“I'd rather not have friends. I don't need distractions.”
“Oh, but you want a student?”
“I want an employer. Means to an end.”
“I'll be your…tutor. No charge.”
“And what can you teach me?”
“A lot. You say a lot of stupid things, so I can help edit you.”
“Not interested.”
“A female perspective?”
“I treat everyone the same.”
“Then, I just want to be an ally. Because I think this will get me a laugh or two.”
Futaro glances at the window. The orange sky of the afternoon sun painted the view.
The boy turns back.
“There's strength in numbers, so I will have to agree…but don't expect much.”
“Thank you for accepting my offer…kind of.” She thinks about what he said during their discussion. “So you studying so hard and being a know-it-all isn't fun to you?”
He actually considers the question. Usually he would just say, ‘It's my job’ or he would argue it is fun, but at this point, for some reason he felt she deserved a more honest answer.
“I would say…it became fun. I do enjoy studying, and learning more. Every necessary fact becomes a skill or tool, and that excites me. Utilizing these may display that I'm intellectually superior, by getting perfect marks and the top placement. What I'm really after is monetary recognition. Scholastic opportunities that open up from them.”
Nanami thinks he used a bunch of big words, said a lot, and yet didn't say anything at all. Somehow she still understood.
“So…you used to not care, huh? What was your worst score?”
He laughs. “A null mark. I didn't even turn it in,” he gives a devious look and smile. “Man, Takebayashi was sore at me. Especially after I bullied Sanada about it.”
Nanami didn't expect him to look so happy about it. He was just living in nostalgia.
“Why didn't you turn it in?”
“Huh?” He thinks. “It was prime bug catching season at the time, and I had heard there was a certain large beetle. I was gonna impress Takebayashi with it…but,” he lost his grin, “I guess that was pretty foolish of me. And I'm not particularly proud.”
She feels like her mind is blown. Bug catching? “Y-you ever go to an arcade?” Based on what his current classmates have seen, he wouldn't even know Pac Man from Mario.
“Huh? Even though it's been 5 years, I still have the top score at that place over by the park.”
“Which park?” She shakes her head. “Nevermind. So, you hit your head like Goku and became a nerdy study Otaku, huh?”
He looks at her like she is an alien. “That's nonsense. I made the decision. The effort. You don't just accidentally become as perfect as I have become.” He gives a haughty laugh. “You do it by buckling down, grinding it day by day, and focusing on the real tasks a youth and student must focus on. Not karaoke or Café and dates or sports or other frivolities.”
“And where did you learn this nonsense?’
“I met someone. A girl. We both were in garbage situations and made a promise to get ourselves and our families out of it. This was 5 years ago in Kyoto.”
“What, tell me more about this part?!”
Futaro somehow takes a breath that looks smug. “Yes, it was 5 years ago, during a class trip to Kyoto. A girl I did not get the name of, saved me from some false accusations. We were gonna spend the day together…but then the oni invasion began. You may remember how they invaded in a storm of thunder whilst wearing animal pelts. Their clubs were terrifying to behold. It was truly a nightmare situation for our country.”
The most surprising part to Nanami is that she let him lie longer than she thought possible.
Her eyes conveyed to him both that she knew he was lying, and that she isn't amused by the lie.
“You're a little annoying,” she admits.
“Dealing with other people is annoying.”
“Yet you want a job teaching Nakano?”
“Well, it's not just her.”
“Oh, so also her sister?”
He is quiet for a moment. Since Itsuki hadn't mentioned she is a quintuplet in class, he felt he couldn't say it to Nanami. “Well, she has more sisters and I would teach them, too. The pay is pretty good based on what my dad told me.”
Isanari, his father, had got the job, and was upset that Futaro botched it. Now Isanari had to take an additional gig he had not planned on. It leaves Futaro's younger sister at a disadvantage as well. Futaro's mother passed away nearly 10 years ago when he was 6.
“So how much is true,” Nanami asks.
“I met Itsuki in the lunchroom. We argued a little, because we're both jerks, and she asked me to tutor her. I refused and called her fat.”
She hits his shoulder. “Uesugi!”
He grimaces. “Yes, I'm not proud of that.” Futaro shakes his head. “To be fair…I only said if she kept eating like she does, she will get fat. It is true. Her sister called her a meat bun eating monster and gave her the same advice.”
That's not a great defense, to say he isn't the only one who says she'll get fat. Just because Nino said it before noticing him and then turning her fangs on him, did not make it OK.
Even he was aware of that, yet still said it.
“Have you seen how much she eats,” he wonders.
“No, I'm not as close to her as you appear to be.”
Futaro watches her. That wasn't funny. “Then I accepted the tutoring job from her father, found out she was my student…so I caught her when she left school that day she was introduced to our class.”
“Oh, right, I thought I saw you sprint out of class that day. We all thought you had a major crap brewing and made fun of you.” She giggles. Someone had said that in the bathroom, Uesugi, AKA Mr. One, is always number two.
“So, she refused and called her father, and he fired me.” Futaro made a fist. He still remembers the cold sound of Maruo Nakano's voice telling him he lost the job. Until such time as he proves himself both academically and socially.
Itsuki would point out that after her initial request to teach her, he demanded a lot of money. A lot. She mentioned this to her father which is another reason why Futaro's negotiations with Maruo went poorly.
His reputation is that he is a blackmailer.
“Does she really need tutoring? She always answers in class,” Nanami notes. “Of course, she always gets it wrong.”
“Exactly! She needs me to be her tutor…and I need the money.”
“Who became her tutor?”
Futaro is quiet. “I asked her, ‘What, so you'll teach yourself?’ and so…she came up with what she calls, ‘Operation Teach Each Other’, AKA the ‘Itsuki Plan’.”
“Each other?”
“Yes, that was when I found out she has sisters. That they each excel at one subject, and so, they will just teach one another in order to succeed.”
He thought a better codename was ‘The Itsuki System’. It actually wasn't a bad idea, but it excludes him and his chance to earn some dinero.
Nanami nods. “I see, this is all starting to make sense.”
“Good. Then I've repaid you for today, and I'll leave.”
She blocks him again.
“Wait, how did that Kyoto story end up? How did you become friends with Itsuki's sister? Can you finish at least one story?”
He groans. Clears his throat. “So, the next day, at lunch, a girl came up to me and returned a test to me. She said I looked trustworthy, and it was an…older sister of Itsuki.” He is quiet a second. “Yotsuba.”
“You forgot her name?”
Futaro does not explain he met 3 more girls who looked exactly the same that day. Both at lunch and later after school.
One of them was jealous that he would only speak to Itsuki, but then spoke to Yotsuba. The oldest quintuplet, Ichika.
The second, he swears, was ready to pull out a taser on him because he breathed wrong. Nino.
The third asked him an odd question about the Sengoku period. She was aware he attempted to be their tutor. He answered it correctly and she was impressed. Miku.
It wasn't worth mentioning this to Nanami. Though it would help her understand why he can't remember their names. They both looked like strangers at first, but they're identical.
“Anyway…they're twins and now the one won't leave me alone. She kind of seems like a dog.”
Nanami hits him. “You shouldn't call girls that if you don't like how they look!”
Futaro is confused. “Look? I was talking about how she acts. Very forgetful, energetic, and easily distracted.”
Nanami is quiet. “Oh…” She pats him on the back. “Forgive me. Mean people call ugly women, ‘dogs’, so I thought you were being a terrible person.”
“I don't understand people,” Futaro admits. “People call dogs majestic and mankind's best friends, but then they call them ugly? And we call men who act terrible towards women, dogs, also? Culture is very confusing.”
She agrees. Nanami notices movement outside the school. “It's getting late. So tell me about Kyoto.”
“Ahem. Well, after the oni invasion, this girl I met, was left penniless.”
“So you paid her way out? I've seen you go out of your way for only a 50 yen coin.”
“I didn't…”
“So you just left her?”
He realizes he used to be an idiot. He still is on some matters.
“No, I threw my money away and said I was stranded as well.”
Nanami gasps. “You say you hate romance, but that is certainly romantic.”
“It was 5 years ago! I was a very different person!” He pulls his student handbook out. He shows her a photo of a tween boy with dyed blonde hair. “See, look how different and foolish I was!”
He normally does not show this photo, but he seemed to want to make a point to Nanami. A young woman he can't really remember the name of, but was starting to see as a potential ally. Especially since she knows he lied in class earlier.
She held all the power here.
Kitagawa eagerly takes the photo from him. He tries to fight back a little, but gives it up in order to not rip it.
“Wow! You're so stylish. Is this really you?!? I swear this is basically the kind of photo you find already in a frame or wallet when you buy it!”
Futaro is not amused.
“As I said, I used to have different priorities, but after the oni invasion, I swore to take school seriously. I would earn high grades. Get a reputable job and pay, and eliminate all debts in my life.”
“Is that girl you mentioned code for oni invasion now?”
“So, that's the story.” He looks around the classroom. “Hand me the photo back, and we can go back to being strangers again.”
Nanami instead notices the photo is folded. She extends it out to see that the girl he mentioned is in the photo. That she looks extremely familiar.
“This is her?!? This is from back then? You should have just started with this!”
Futaro cringes. “I always thought of you as a quiet person. Must you be so loud?”
Nanami continues to study the photo of this dyed blonde Futaro. She looks at his current ears, and barely sees a mark from a previous piercing. She looks back to study the girl with the pink hair.
“Are you done now?”
She looks at him a bit confused. “You said you and her made a promise? And that's how you became so focused on study?”
“Yes, and it's a secret. Don't go blab it!”
“So…then you're upset because Nakano didn't honor it?”
Futaro is confused. “I never made a promise to Itsuki?”
“I mean, this is her, right? How many people have hair like this?”
“Five,” he mutters.
Futaro is haunted. His head hurts. He groans a muted gasp. He leans onto a desk for support and nearly knocks the chair that sat on top of it off.
“Did you not notice that?”
“I don't see things like that!” He is proud he didn't throw up.
Futaro stands up. He fixes the collar of his shirt.
“I don't think it's, Itsuki,” he says. “I'm pretty certain the first time we met was at lunch.”
“So…her sister?”
Futaro is quiet. “Maybe. The hair is only similar and rare, not specific enough.” He takes a breath. “It's a theory. It could be one of them…but you're also correct.”
“I am?”
“She didn't uphold her end of the promise.”
A chime plays overhead and formally announces that after school activities need to wrap up.
They gather their bags and exit the classroom and enter the halls.
“So what's your plan,” Nanami wonders.
“I'm not talking about that in public.”
“But you will talk about it?”
“You're right. I won't talk anymore.”
She laughs. “I'm pretty sure I'll get you to talk.”
He looks at the photo again. How did he miss this? Futaro puts it in his handbook and slips it into his bag.
He needs to get that job back. It's the only way forward. Both for his family's debt, and to resolve this.
He considers if this is true. If the girl he met and drives his dreams is one of the Nakano women? Who? It couldn't be someone like Itsuki or as gloomy as the one with the bangs. Yotsuba seems way too stupid.
The short-haired one?
Them just having a similar age and hair color to the girl doesn't seem like much to prove it's a Nakano. His gut kind of feels it's true though.
“Uesugi!” Yotsuba, the fourth quintuplet, calls out from down the hall. She had stayed after to practice with the basketball team. She has just finished washing up. Her hair had a green ribbon. The ends of which pointed upwards like two bunny ears.
The girl with pinkish tones to her hair hustled towards him.
“You were supposed to get me your contact,” she nags. Her face had a pout.
“Ah, right. Itsuki did tell me that. Apologies.”
Nanami finds his friendliness off-putting, but it did seem honest. Despite what he told her.
Yotsuba notices Nanami. “Y-you have a girlfriend?!?” Her heart begins to flip flop start stop.
Both Futaro and Nanami put up their arms in an ‘X’ shape. They buzz her wrong.
“Way, way, way, way off,” Nanami comments.
Futaro nods emphatically. He wasn't even insulted by her attitude.
“Oh? I was helping the basketball team,” Yotsuba answered a question no one asked. “What about you?”
“Tutoring,” Nanami replies. She is confused how quickly the conversation moved on.
Futaro can't really argue with that. Technically she did offer him her services, but he didn't really resolve that discussion.
“By the way, this is the sister,” the young man mentions.
Nanami lights up. “Ah, Nakano's sister? Yotsuba, right? I'm in the same class as your sister. Nanami Kitagawa.”
“Nice ta meet'cha.” Yotsuba was all smiles.
Futaro was the only one without one.
The sporty girl whips out her phone. “That info, Uesugi?”
He grumbles. “Yeah. All right.” He brings out his own and they transfer information. “I'm open for business anytime you need help with studying. Especially if your father tells me to pitch in.”
“Shi, shi, shi. You're funny. Why would I bug you about that?”
Nanami realizes Futaro is lazy at times. This was way too passive of a strategy.
Futaro sighed. “I'm only interested in studying. Please only reach out to me for that purpose.”
Yotsuba is looking at his info on her phone. A boy's phone number? And not just any boy's, but Futaro? A boy who slipped her mind but who she spent a nice day with in Kyoto 5 years ago. She was both excited and nervous to have this power.
“I'll cherish this forever,” she remarks.
He squints. “My…email?”
Nanami puts her face in her palms. He is that dense.
They hear some voices, and turn to see the arrival of three young women. Nino and her two friends, Otori and Yamada. All of them were part of Class 2-5.
Otori was a classic black hair beauty. Serious looking in temper as well. Yamada had light hair and a cute bow in her hair. Nino looks very similar to Itsuki, more so than Yotsuba. Her long hair had two butterfly clips on each side. Her vibe was a little Gothic Lolita and overall more fashionable than her sisters.
Nanami snaps to attention. It disturbs Futaro a bit to see her become activated.
“Otori, I didn't know you were still here,” Nanami stands in front of the ice queen. “D- do you–”
“Excuse me, who are you,” Nino wonders. “Could you please not come up to us like this? Ugh.”
Nino shoos her away.
Otori is a bit unsure how to react. She barely knew Nanami, but they used to go to junior high together.
Yamada ignores them all. She was looking at Yotsuba and wondering why she looks like her new friend, Nino.
“Ah, I'm sorry,” Kitagawa remarks. “I thought you were someone else.” She looks a bit rejected. Her body turns to Futaro. “I'll…we'll…I'm not done with that story, but some other time, Uesugi.”
He just waves her off.
Nanami looks a little hurt, but only Yotsuba seems to care.
She leaves, and never really noticed that Nino was the sister of Itsuki.
“What are you doing with this guy,” Nino questions.
“Uesugi? He's super smart, y'know? I think he's pretty cool.”
“This stalker?”
“No offense, but he is kind of a loser,” Yamada comments.
“He is the smartest in our year, though,” Otori points out. “I wouldn't worry about him, he's asexual.”
Futaro is both insulted and confused. “Wait, what?”
“Yeah, last year you made it a point to mention how much you didn't care about romance and women.”
“Th-that's not totally true!”
Otori looks thoughtful. “I could have sworn that's what you told us in class…”
“It's true I think dating is a waste of time, but I won't deny I'm attracted to women. I just choose to ignore such tasteless emotions like lust or love.”
“So you are a gross person,” Nino confirms.
“Don't worry, I don't see you as an option,” he remarks. “I like people who can cook.”
“Actually, Nino is a great cook,” Yotsuba remarks. “She cooks for us.”
Nino is pink.
“Is that so?” Futaro touches his bangs. “M- maybe you would cook for me?”
“N-never,” Nino squeaks out. Her face grew redder. Her friends grinned at her shaky interactions with a boy.
She was all show. A cinnamon roll on the inside.
Otori makes a very small nod. “Then I apologize for getting it wrong.”
He makes a small noise but doesn't really care. He was trying to pretend he was smoother than he actually was.
“Wh-what else do you look for,” Yotsuba wonders. “In a-a-a girl?”
“Huh?”
“Don't engage with him,” Nino reminds her. “He waited like a predator the other week, and now he's waiting on you.”
“I wasn't,” he explains.
“He was clearly with that tutor student,” Otori mentions.
Yamada had a sweat drop.
“I was the stalker waiting on him. I asked him to meet me,” Yotsuba points out. She refocused. “Uesugi, please answer.”
“Um, if I had to answer, I would say…someone energetically optimistic.”
“Yeah? Is that right?” Yotsuba met that condition, so was happy. She can't cook at all though.
“Yeah, whenever I think of great qualities in a person, I think of my mother and sister.”
The four women didn't really find that as charming as he thought it did.
“He probably watches the step variety of videos,” Yamada mentions. The other three don't know what she is talking about, but Nino and Otori give an awkward laugh like they did.
“Yotsuba!”
The group turns to see Itsuki approaching. Miku and Ichika were with her. Those two immediately notice Futaro.
Yamada and Otori are surprised to see all five quintuplets. Their new friend mentioned sisters, but not that she was even a twin yet alone one of five.
They look at Futaro and are confused that he isn't surprised. In fact, he looks excited to see all five.
“You skipped out on us,” Itsuki yells at Yotsuba. “This will only work if we're all there.”
“Ah, but Hongo needed me to help out.”
“I needed you to help out!”
Hongo is both the captain of the basketball club at school, and unanimously known as the most beautiful girl in the school. You don't say no to her.
Itsuki focuses on Nino. “And where did you run off to?”
Nino shrugs while looking rather smug. “If we're not all there, it's better to have fun. I don't need to study anyway.”
Otori and Yamada glance at one another. Her quiz score was low, and they figured it's because it was the first one after transferring into school. Now they were reconsidering.
“Troubles with the…Itsuki Plan, huh?”
Itsuki realized Futaro was there. She went from disappointment in her sisters, to a full-on frown.
“You again, huh?”
“I was just thinking, that I could help.”
“It's not called the Itsuki Plan,” the youngest Nakano corrects him. “You obviously don't know everything…”
“I would call it that,” Ichika comments.
Miku gives a silent nod.
Itsuki grows red. “My name isn't in the codename!”
“Is she always so bossy,” Futaro asks Ichika.
They catch eyes.
Yotsuba notices the more mature sister flirting and gets between them.
“She sure is a mom, huh?” Yotsuba laughs in her unique way. “Tell me about your mom and sister, Uesugi.”
Itsuki jumps between them all. “Don't engage with this homewrecker! I was still talking to you.”
Yotsuba and Ichika move around her.
They are cut off by Nino. She pokes at the boy.
“What are you up to?”
“I'm innocent,” he grins. “I swear.”
The two stare each other into a stalemate.
Nino withdraws her hand. “Hmph, well, I don't really believe you.” She turns to her friends. “Let's get out of here.” Nino looks at her sisters. “I'll see you at home.”
The two girls give a nervous bow to the four sisters and the boy. The trio leave.
“Tomorrow you have to show up!” Itsuki simmers as she watches her sister leave with their friends. “And you, too.” She points into Yotsuba's face.
“There's no practice tomorrow, so no problem,” Yotsuba says with a salute.
Futaro quickly sends her a message and she reads it.
“Actually…we'll see,” the ribbon girl adds with her tongue sticking out.
Futaro told her he was going to tutor her tomorrow. He'll probably back out and trick her into practicing with Hongo anyway.
“What do you mean by that?” Itsuki frets.
“Hey, I met Kitagawa. She seems nice.”
Itsuki is confused. Yotsuba was either changing the subject or innocently moved on. It wasn't always easy to tell.
“Kitagawa? That's…she's in my class, right?” It worked.
“Yep. She was with Uesugi when I found him.”
Itsuki and Ichika glance at the boy again.
“I didn't…think you knew her,” Itsuki remarks. Was that the girl who found her glasses?
“I don't,” Futaro answers. “Or didn't? No, no, I was correct the first time. I don't know her any better than either of you.”
“They were funny. I'm jealous you have such fun classmates like these two,” Yotsuba comments.
“You said you didn't find Itsuki attractive,” Ichika interjects. Was that a question he was asked when they met? He blew her off at the time. “What about her? This No Name girl?”
“They were pretty serious that they were only student teacher,” Yotsuba answers. She laughs. She poses with her arms in an ‘X’. “They even did this.”
“Ah, so what about the big sister type,” Ichika asks with a grin.
Ichika and Futaro met when he found Itsuki after school that first day. She blocked him from talking to Itsuki by asking him if he had fallen for the youngest sister. He denied it. She asked if he liked her face, or the size of her body, and Futaro put his hand on her face and ignored her.
Ichika was both annoyed and impressed by that. She wasn't sure how she felt about this boy. The first quintuplet was kind of attracted to this jerk.
Still, it seemed like either Itsuki or Yotsuba deserved a chance at him first. They met him first, and seemed to like him, if in a severely naive way. Ichika sees herself as more mature, even if it wasn't actually true. She was a rookie at love as well.
Miku got close to him. She looks into his eyes from a few inches away. He pretends this is okay, but it gives him anxiety.
Her sisters hold their breath. It almost seemed like they were going to kiss.
Ichika became worried when the middle sister suddenly showed herself as a black horse candidate.
Miku steps back. “I don't see it. He's very plain.”
“Hey, that's rich, coming from you!” He snaps back to a customer service face. “I mean, well, uh…”
A teacher enters the hallway. “Hey, you gotta go.”
The group gives them a bow and head downstairs.
Yotsuba leads the group into the stairwell. Miku and Ichika walk side-by-side. They were next in the lineup. Futaro and Itsuki take the rear.
Itsuki glances at him with a nervous look, then away.
“So…you're tutoring Kitagawa?”
“Kitagawa? No, I never met anyone–” He stops and remembers the mousy girl. “Ah, yes, Nami.”
“Nanami?”
“It's a nickname. Even though we just met, we quickly became that close,” he lies. “I was grateful for her help with that…unfortunate incident today. She decided to tutor–study, with me.”
Itsuki is bothered. “So now it's okay to tutor someone, but not when I ask?” It was the same girl. She was cute.
“Well, she has both better grades and attitude, so I'm more than pleased to do it.” Except technically Nanami is tutoring him. “Though, I am willing to accept offers for the right price.”
Itsuki pouts.
Miku glances back and then turns to Ichika. “These two talk too much.”
Ichika laughs it off. “I think they're just flirting.”
Miku doesn't look any different, but it was clear she held a sudden miasma overhead. “Romance? How…ugly.”
“You're just a kid,” Ichika laughs off.
“That was the first time I met her,” Futaro mentions. “You may have noticed, but I'm not a people person.”
“You say that like you want to be…” Itsuki huffs. “You're gonna tell me what, that you do want people?”
He hums. “I wouldn't mind students. Underlings. Coworkers. I'm not out to be friends. I think that is the misconception here.”
“I think a good teacher is also a friend.”
“That seems naive. The teacher has to be an adult.”
“I can be a teacher!”
Futaro is about to express doubt, but bites his tongue. That won't get him a job. “Then…then let me help you.” In exchange for money.
The group turns at the bottom of the stairs. They went towards the shoe lockers at the entrance.
“I wish I could believe you.”
He is a little surprised. She had only been combative with him until now. So it was weird to see her regretful about where they stood in their relationship.
He grins.
That means his sabotage plan is working.
They stop to put their shoes on.
Yotsuba is already outside the building. Waiting on the courtyard and balancing on the curb to the walkway.
“Where's Yotsuba now,” Itsuki groans.
“She's always getting lost,” Ichika comments.
Futaro pauses. Hit with a thought from earlier. Hit by a flashback to a day with a young girl he thinks about almost daily.
“Ah, there she is,” Itsuki says in relief. “She's too carefree.”
Ichika and Miku just nod. This sister outside is not serious and not enough. She always seems childish though. They make fun of her for it, but they also appreciate it.
The two sisters head out to regroup with the fourth Nakano.
“Itsuki,” the young man says in a low volume. Struggling to speak.
“What now?”
“Have you and your sisters been to Kyoto?”
“Huh?”
“Have you been to Kyoto?” His voice clearer and firmer.
“Y-yeah. Years and years ago. A lot of people go there for class trips, y'know.”
“And did you get lost?”
“I'm not that clumsy! Don't make fun of me.”
“W-wait, I'm being serious.”
They share a look. She sees it in his eyes. Honest curiosity.
“What about your sisters?”
She is quiet for a moment. “It was just a trip. I didn't get lost. I was a kid. My sisters and I had a good time.”
“Oh?”
He is facing her, but doesn't seem to really be looking at her.
“Well, thanks for answering my question.”
The two head out the doors.
“Uesugi!” Yotsuba runs up. “Let's be friends, okay? Don't listen to Itsuki.”
“Hey!”
“All right. Let's be friends.”
Itsuki is a little shocked to hear that from him, even though she had told the class that her sister and him already were pals. It's also upsetting because she offered friendship to him the first day and he turned it down just like the tutoring request. It's insulting, to her, for him to be making these exceptions for Nanami and Yotsuba.
“Don't forget big sis,” Ichika chimes in with a request.
Miku just shakes her head. Don't include her.
“Sure. Come to me for all your school needs.”
“What about other needs,” Ichika asks with a finger at the edge of her lips.
It worked to drive his attention to them. Even if he pretends to not focus on them.
He chuckles nervously. “Then, think of me as a stranger.”
“Mou,” Ichika pretends to pout. She gives a chuckle. She was more interested in bothering him and her sisters than actual romance.
“Good night, Uesugi,” Itsuki says with malice. She pulls her older sister away. “We're going now.”
Miku did a quick, unnoticed bow of respect and walks away before it's registered. The other two girls give him a polite wave.
Itsuki looks back with an icy glare. Then turns her attention away.
He watches them leave. After about ten steps from them, he turns and heads his own way.
Itsuki watches Yotsuba laugh with Ichika.
“Oh,” she says to herself. “But didn't Yotsuba get lost in Kyoto?” She turns, but Futaro is a figure in the distance now. “Well, it's not really important. I don't know why that guy was asking, but it can't be good.”
With a shrug she catches up to her family.
Futaro walks in thought. “Maybe Itsuki's right. A lot of people go to Kyoto. A lot probably get lost, too. Just having a similar hair color doesn't mean much even if it's unique.
“It can't be one of them.”
Nanami was clearly mistaken.
His phone rings. He doesn't know many people so he looks at the screen. It was cracked. Futaro imagined it would be Yotsuba based on her personality, but he was relieved to see it was his sister, Raiha.
“Raiha, I'm on my way home now.”
<Big bro, guess what?>
He sighs. “Just tell me, please.”
<Dad got you another job offer! From that same guy.>
Futaro stops. “What is it?”
<Hmm…I think he said it was a party?>
Futaro is confused. “Not tutoring?”
<Dad said you're good at everything. So you got this!>
“But what is it?”
<Oh, he just got here. He can tell you at dinner, so get home. It's Uesugi curry night!>
The call ends.
“It's curry almost 5 days of the week…”
Futaro puts the phone away and hurries home. He isn't sure what it could be, but it was money. If it was given to him by Maruo Nakano, even better.
Next Chapter: "Working Late..."