A/N: Hey everybody, I've decided to port this fic of mine over to Wattpad from AO3 and FF.N. I'll be uploading a chapter every few days until this is caught up to where the fic is at on those sites; as of the time of my posting this (October 14th, 2023), it's at 26 chapters, with the 27th chapter coming out soon. If you can't wait until then, feel free to go check it out there!
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"No."
I heard a sigh from the other end of the phone, and then my little sister said, "Alright, I guess we're really going to have to sell your kidney."
"No, wait, Raiha--"
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Well, we'll just need to find some other way to make money."
With that, the line went dead as my little sister hung up on me. I scowled, and shoved the phone into my pocket. After about a second, I was able to jiggle the lock loose on the bathroom stall within which I had been hiding, and quickly left the room.
Of course I'm not going to take the job.
I was too busy with my own studying. Also, teaching some rich girl who had probably never properly studied a day in her life? Not a chance.
Nakano Itsuki. Like hell.
As I stalked my way back to the classroom, my stomach gurgled, and a brief pang of hunger ran through my gut. As expected, I hadn't had enough to eat for lunch. A twinge of regret hit me, and I wondered if maybe I'd made a huge mistake.
The class was buzzing as I entered and sat down at my desk.
"I hear there's going to be a transfer student!"
"Wow, really? I hope they're a girl!"
I closed my eyes and lowered my head onto the desk. The relative coolness of the wood was refreshing, and distracted me from the growls of my stomach. I'd been able to get my usual cheap meal, but my studying during lunch had been ruined by an annoying redhead with tacky hair clips. Normally, I had my food a lot more slowly, to really let it expand my stomach, but she'd pissed me off, and I had it too quickly.
I wasn't very nice to her either though... maybe telling her she was going to get fat was a step too far...?
The door to the classroom slid open, and I heard the teacher walk in. Wearily, I lifted my head to look at the front of the room.
"Er, we have a new student joining our class today. Please come in and introduce yourself."
Into the room walked a red-headed girl with two star-shaped pins in her hair. She gave a slight bow, and then said, "Hello everybody, my name is Nakano Itsuki. A pleasure to meet you all."
Ah. I know her. ...Whoops.
The class began murmuring, and I thought I could hear some of the boys near the back of the room making some comments. Animals. If they had time for things like that, they could spend it studying. As the redhead began to make her way to her allotted seat, she walked by my desk. For a brief moment, we made eye contact, and I opened my mouth to say... well, something. An apology, maybe? To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure myself. Instead, I closed my mouth again and just nodded to her. The girl pointedly turned away from me with an auditory "harumph".
Wait, people actually... do that?
As Nakano Itsuki sat down at her desk, I put my head back into my arms. This was the girl I'd been asked to tutor? I definitely avoided a bullet with that one -- imagine trying to tutor someone who clearly hated your guts. Yikes.
As the teacher began to write on the board, I forced myself awake, and began to take notes. After all, one doesn't become the top student in the class by dozing during lectures. At the end of the school day, a small crowd formed around the new girl, but I immediately packed my bags and left. After all, I still had several hours of studying that I could do at the school library.
The next day, at lunch, I resolved to spend it as peacefully as possible, reviewing the English vocabulary that would be on the next test. After I got my barbecue meal (minus the barbecue), I began to hunt for a table in the cafeteria. Solely by chance, I happened to make eye contact with Nakano Itsuki as I walked by her table.
"Sorry," she said with a smirk on her face, "this table is taken."
Around her were four other girls -- all with similar hair. One had a bob cut and a sweater wrapped around her waist, one had long hair and bows in her hair, one had headphones wrapped around her neck, and the final one had a giant green bow on her head.
"Yeah, right. Ok." I muttered, and kept walking.
"Oh? You're leaving?" the girl with the sweater said, standing up and trotting over to me. "Why don't you eat with us?"
"She... literally just said that the table is taken. I'm going to go find my own table," I said back, looking her dead in the eyes. In the corner of my eye, I noticed the girl with the headphones laugh quietly, and then carefully re-arrange her face to be deadpan.
"Aw, come oooon. Don't you want to eat surrounded by gorgeous, gorgeous girls? I know you don't have a girlfriend -- have a little snack with us, wouldn't you?"
"Who says I don't have a girlfriend?!" I retorted, a little louder than I intended.
...Maybe a lot louder.
The girl with the sweater gave me a knowing look -- whatever that meant -- and then said, "right, right. I'm sure you do."
"Uh... huh..."
"Which is why you're after Itsuki-chan, right? Come on, no need to be shy!"
This woman is a pain in the ass.
"Come on," she said, clearly smirking at me. "I'll call her over. Get a good mood going. You know what I mean?"
As she turned to walk back to the table, I grabbed her wrist.
"I handle my own relationships. Mind your own business."
She looked surprised for a second, then laughed and smacked my back.
"Wow, manly, manly! Very manly."
Then, she leaned in close to my ear, and whispered, "Well, if you have any trouble, come talk to big sis Ichika. I can get you sorted."
She laughed, and then walked away. Looking back at the table, they seemed to have mostly gone back to their conversations. However, the one with the bow... was looking at me with an unreadable expression on her face.
Whatever. Complete weirdos.
I returned to my table, and ate my food while flipping through my flashcards. About ten minutes later, something seemed to be permeating the edges of my consciousness.
"Uesugi-san. Uesugi-san. Uesugi-san!"
With a start, I looked up, and found the redhead with the giant green bow right in my face, our lips mere centimetres apart. I reeled back, shocked.
"Wait, what? Who are you?"
Laughing, the girl smiled at me. "Hey, you finally looked at me."
I just stared at her dumbfounded. For a moment, I felt almost... mesmerized. Then, I shook myself out of it.
"More importantly, how on earth do you know my name?"
The girl grinned. "It's. A. Secret."
"Why. Is. It. A. Secret?" I replied in equal measure. Are we middle-schoolers?
With a flourish, the girl produced two tests.
"Tell me, good sir! Which of these two tests is yours? The one with the perfect 100% score? Or the one with the perfect 0%?"
I could only stare at her in disbelief. I then looked at my pile of notes, and shuffled through it looking for the most recent midterm we'd received, which I'd put there for reviewing later. As expected, it wasn't there.
I must have dropped it during the conversation with the crazy sweater lady.
"The 100% one," I replied. "Please give it back. I need it to review."
"Hohoho! An honest boy, aren't we, Uesugi-san! Indeed! I'll give you your test back! And also the other one, as a treat!"
"...I don't want it. Who the hell even manages to get a 0% on these tests?"
The girl smiled sweetly. "It's mine. I was hoping to pawn it off on you."
"Eh?! What the hell?"
I looked down at the test. In the section where you were supposed to write your name -- your full name -- the girl had simply written one word. Yotsuba.
"But wow! I've never seen anyone get 100% before. Are you some kind of genius, Uesugi-san? Do you have the mystery brain juice?"
"...Mystery brain juice?"
"Yeah, you know! The secret serum to make you a genius! Man, when I first saw you I thought you were a gloomy loner, but now I know you're a genius gloomy loner!"
"...Do you talk to everybody you've just met like that?"
I picked up my stuff and started to head out, but the strange girl stood up and followed me.
"Hey, so you're a genius right-- hey, slow down!"
I power walked away from her. No time to chat with weirdos.
"Man, you walk fast!"
No good. She's speedy as heck.
"Listen, Uesugi-san, I--"
It was time for gym, so I popped into the changing room to change. However, Yotsuba stood at the door staring at me. It was a... really intense stare.
"Listen, you. How long are you going to keep following me?"
"Until you thank me."
"Huh?"
"You didn't thank me for picking up your test for you. Isn't that what you're supposed to do when people are nice to you, Uesugi-san? Thank them."
Looking her dead in the eye, I handed her test back to her, 0% and all.
"Here you go."
"Hmmmm? What's this?"
"Your test. I just happened to find it on the ground. We're even now."
She blinked, and then smiled widely.
"Why, thank you!"
This girl is going to be the death of me.
"Err, by the way... I'm... trying to change here..." I stammered out.
"Eh? Oh! Right! Whoops, silly me!" she said, and began to leave.
"Oh, one more thing."
She turned back around, clutching the test to her chest.
"You're... pretty close with Nakano Itsuki, right? Would you mind... telling her I apologize?"
Yotsuba put her hand to her chin for a second, thinking about it.
"Nah."
"Wait, why not?!"
She then stuck her hand out towards me in a dramatic pose, pointing it at me like a finger gun. One eye closed like she was looking down the sights, she said, "What was it you said to Ichika? Something like 'I handle my own relationships', right? You can handle it -- go apologize to her yourself, buster!"
I sighed, and she laughed, and left.
We finished getting changed for gym class. Today, the boys were playing basketball, while the girls were playing volleyball. I, being essentially devoid of athletic ability, was sentenced to be a substitute -- which was fine by me. More time to review Japanese history.
As I sat near the netting separating the two sides of the gym, reading through my notes, I heard the smack of a hand on a volleyball, and then suddenly my head was flying forward as the ball made contact with the back of my skull at full speed through the netting. My flashcards, being on a little ring, simply skittered across the floor. However, as for me, I was seeing stars.
"Ah, geez! Uesugi-san, are you alright?"
I turned to see one of my female classmates -- I didn't remember her name -- approaching me through the netting.
"I'm ok, just... a bit sore."
"Ok, I'm glad."
She then turned to look at the redhead next to her, who looked mortified.
"Don't worry about it, Nakano-san. No harm, no foul. I'm sure your next receive will go where you want it to go!"
No harm, no foul?! My head feels like a watermelon on a hot summer's day!
The rest of the gym class seemed to go by in a blur. At the end, as we were cleaning up, I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Hey, Uesugi?"
I turned around, and standing before me was an obstinate-looking star-spangled red-head.
"Listen, I'm sorry about hitting you with a volleyball. It was an accident."
I just stared.
"Ok, I said it! I'm sorry! Goodbye!"
With a huff, Itsuki began to storm off, but I held up a hand. "Please, wait a moment, Nakano-san."
She turned around, her face bunched up in a scowl. "What?!"
"I'm really sorry about yesterday. I was in a... not comfortable place, and I took it out on you. I said some things I shouldn't have."
By which I mean I was really, really hungry.
Itsuki's scowl remained, but it seemed to lessen slightly. "Noted. I'll take it under consideration."
Under consideration?! This girl...! I was genuinely apologizing!
I shot daggers into the back of her head as she walked away. Then, with a "harumph" of my own, I turned and slunk back to the changing room with the other boys to get back into my uniform. As I got dressed, I rubbed the back of my head gingerly. I could feel some slight swelling where the volleyball had struck me.
"How does that even happen?" I muttered to myself. "Volleyballs are supposed to be soft. How hard did she hit that thing?"
One of the guys changing next to me glanced over at me rubbing my head, and then said, "Hey, Uesugi. You've got a bit of a welt where the new girl hit you. How about you swing by the nurse's office?"
"That's... probably a good idea."
"Want me to come with you?"
I don't even know your name. Why do you care?
I smiled mirthlessly. "You just want to skip class, huh?"
"Damn dude, how'd you know?!"
"I'm psychic."
I packed my things into my gym bag, and then left the room. My classmate was probably right -- it would be inconvenient if I left this untreated. A literal swollen head would just get in the way of my studying, since it would be hard to focus with a constant pain in my skull. A little ice would probably do the trick.
As I exited into the hallway from the boy's change room, I heard the voice of Nakano Itsuki talking from the girl's change room. She must have been near the door.
"I'm a bit worried about the new school. I was supposed to have a tutor come and help me, but my father said that he wasn't able to teach us, so we're scrambling to find someone new."
A slight twinge of guilt ran through my heart, but it was soon extinguished by the significantly stronger twinge of pain from my skull. I hefted my bag onto my shoulder, and made my way away from the gym and up to where the nurse's office was located. I knocked on the door, and was soon treated by the nurse. I was given a pack of ice to hold against my head, and the nurse began evaluating me for a concussion, shining a small flashlight into each of my eyes.
In the midst of my pupils contracting and dilating, the door to the nurse's office swung open and in walked two girls. One of them was some black-haired girl I'd never seen before in my life. The other...
"Excuse me ma'am? Hishigawa-san here burned herself while we were in our cooking class, so the teacher asked me to help her come here. Hopefully you can treat... eh? Uesugi-san? Why are you here?"
The other girl was a redhead with a giant bow. Her name was... Yotsuba, wasn't it?
"Some vindictive person decided to use my head as target practice," I said, pressing the ice pack harder to my head. It felt nice. "You may know her."
"Huh?! Nino decided to use your head as target practice?!"
"...Who's Nino?"
The nurse moved away from me to deal with the girl with the burn, and I turned to properly face Yotsuba.
"Nevermind," she said. "Why did Itsuki hit you?"
"I'm pretty sure it was an accident. She tried to receive a volleyball and misdirected it. I think whoever spiked it hit the thing pretty hard."
"That sounds more like Itsuki. I can't imagine her purposely hitting you with a volleyball. Or anyone with anything, to be honest."
Yotsuba seemed pensive for a moment, and then suddenly a light seemed to ignite in her eyes, and she pointed at me dramatically.
"Ah, that reminds me! Uesugi-san! Did you end up apologizing to her like you said you would?"
"Yes. She said she would take it under consideration."
Yotsuba sighed. "That's our Itsuki. She's not going to forgive you that easily. What did you even do to upset her like that?"
"I... may have been angry at her and said some unkind things about her potential future waistline."
She grimaced. "Yeah, she's gonna hate you for the rest of your life. And you probably deserve it, Uesugi-san."
"That's why I apologized!"
"And once more! Twice more! Thrice into the breach you must go, dear Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba proclaimed. "Until the red demon is vanquished! You must never give up!"
I smiled despite myself. "Should you really be referring to your own friend as a red demon?"
"Hmm? I mean, I guess you could refer to her as my friend. She's not really a demon though. She's just grumpy when she's hungry."
I guess we're the same on that front. Wait a second. "I guess you could refer to her as my friend"? That's... weirdly non-committal.
From the other chair, the nurse finished bandaging the burn.
"You're free to go dear. Luckily, it wasn't too bad -- you shouldn't scar. Please be more careful with hot frying pans though! They can be quite dangerous!"
The girl nodded, and then stood up.
"Thanks for bringing me, Nakano-san. We should probably head back to class now."
Wait... "Nakano-san"?
"I'll head right back, Hishigawa-san. You go on ahead. I want to make sure Uesugi-san gets back alright."
The girl nodded, and then left the room. I furrowed my brow as I got up and left the nurse's office with Yotsuba. As we walked down the hall, I turned to her.
"Nakano-san? So your full name is Nakano Yotsuba?"
"Yeeees?"
"So you and Nakano Itsuki are... what, sisters?"
"You could say that."
"What does that even mean?!"
"You could say that," Yotsuba repeated with a mischievous look in her eye. "Wasn't it obvious?"
"Of course it wasn't! You didn't write your last name on that test!"
Then a thought struck me out of the blue.
"Then the crazy sweater lady..."
"Crazy sweater lady? ...Oh, you mean Ichika?"
"Is she your cousin or something?"
"Nope, she's also my sister."
Something just wasn't clicking for me. We made our way down to the next level in silence, though Yotsuba had an extremely amused look on her face. Then as we reached the door of my classroom, I turned to her one last time before opening it.
"Then the other two... are also your sisters?"
She gave me a big grin.
"Bingo!"
My world was spinning. How many sisters did this girl have? Was it going to go on forever? Was it figurative? Was she in some weird cult where they called each other sister?
Then, suddenly, it clicked.
"Hang on a second. This is... hard to process. You're... what's the word...."
Quintuplets. They were quintuplets.