Asahiyama High, Classroom 2-1…

Two months after the tutoring began, between studying and helping Yotsuba when she got stuck on or didn't get something, Fuutarou was so busy he barely had time to breathe. If it wasn't because of the handsome pay, he might have dropped it long ago. But seeing how little academically-inclined the Nakano girl was, they had no choice but to study and review everything on a daily basis.

Midway through October, the homeroom teacher announced the midterm exams would begin in two weeks. Fuutarou looked above his shoulder and noted how a smiling Yotsuba scribbled on her notebook. He wondered how much the girl's attention span could fail at times, and what she could be doing that was more important than listening to the teacher.

When the break bell sounded, he waited until the room was a bit cleared before approaching her. As usual, he got some strange looks for hanging out near her, but by then he'd gotten used to it, and everyone in the class knew he was her tutor.

"So, how do you feel for the midterms?" he asked seriously.

"Hehe, well, if it weren't for your help I'd probably be much worse off, I guess." The ribbon girl scratched the back of her head. "Though to be honest… I feel confident."

"Well, being optimistic is never a bad thing," he said. "Since I managed to get you up to speed with the topics, can I trust you to do well on your own this week?"

"Why?" Yotsuba asked surprised. "You're not gonna help me?"

"This week I'll be busy after school," he explained. "One of the employees at our bakery got sick, and Mom needs a temporary replacement."

"Oh, I get it." The girl nodded in understanding. "In that case, I guess I can manage on my own. And if I have too, I can always ask my sisters for help."

"As long as you don't slack off," he warned her. "Anyway, we'll resume the tutoring the week before the exams, so we'll have to pick up the rhythm to compensate. So no compromises with sports clubs, got it?"

"Gotcha, Uesugi-sensei!" The girl made a military salute with a big grin.

Fuutarou sighed. He was getting used to those habits of hers, but it didn't mean he liked them. Once word spread about the basketball match, other sports teams had grown interested in recruiting Yotsuba, including the volleyball and softball teams, who requested her to play in friendly matches where she showed to be just as good, if not better, on both disciplines. This would only increase the interest in other clubs to have them in their ranks, and that worried him.

Although the girl had made her priorities clear, Fuutarou didn't discard the chance that some of the clubs could have little to no scruples, enough to take advantage of the girl's disposition to help whoever asked. An admirable quality, if he admitted to himself, but easily exploitable considering how Yotsuba was unable to refuse unless she compromised with something else first. In that sense, he was lucky enough to preemptively tell her to study, that would ease her guilt should she have to refuse.

At least on that part, he could be certain the Nakano girl wouldn't try to skip her duties, even if he wasn't watching. If she compromised to do something, she'd fulfill it in full. He'd come to see that in the past eight weeks, and she'd given him no reasons to think she'd stop doing so.

Besides, a few days resting from her and her sisters didn't sound bad. It wasn't like he hated their company (except maybe Nino's and Itsuki's, and he figured they wouldn't object to him not showing up in their apartment for a few days), but even he could get bored a bit with the routine. Sometimes a change of pace was needed.

…

With a few minutes left before the next class, Fuutarou took the chance to go to the bathroom. Without the constant murmurs in the classroom he had more liberty to think about what was to come. The midterms would be the trial by fire, the checkpoint to see whether he'd done his job well or not and how much had Yotsuba actually improved.

'Well, considering she was a full zero when the term began, she must have improved at least a bit,' he thought.

Something would call that optimistic. For him, that was just being realistic. Besides, he'd seen Yotsuba genuinely putting all her efforts on it. He'd done almost everything in his power for the time being, and all he had left was to help her review during the final week before the midterms.

"You look rather focused," someone suddenly said.

Fuutarou almost jumped; he was so deep in thought he didn't notice there was someone in the urinal next to him. Out of reflex he turned to see, and realized it wasn't a student from his class, but he looked like he was in his same year. He wore a sweater and tie with his uniform, and his light eyes and hair gave him a "pretty-boy" sort of look. Completely opposite from him.

"That's obvious, the midterms are coming up," he said, trying to ignore him. "If I'm not focused I'll flunk out."

"Rumors say you've been busy lately," the other boy said. "Is it true you've been tutoring a female student?"

Fuutarou turned to see him again. Was it him, or it looked like the boy gave of sparkles like attractive characters in anime series? Also, was it necessary for him to violate his personal space that way?

"I'm getting paid for it?" Fuutarou replied. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Oh no, not at all," the pretty boy replied before fastening his zipper and leaving the urinal to head for the sink. "I'm just hoping that doesn't distract you. I wouldn't like my rival to drop his performance before the exams."

And with that, once he was done washing his hands, he left, leaving Fuutarou to arch an eyebrow.

'Rival? Who was that guy?' he wondered.

----------------------------------------

Uesugi bakery…

Contrary to what many would think, Fuutarou did not spent all his time studying. When he wasn't busy with his academic duties, the boy would seek out ways to help his family, either getting part-time jobs, or like now, lending an extra pair of hands at his mother's bakery.

His dad had taken Raiha to spent the day at the amusement park. He'd gone gladly in his stead if it wasn't because his mom needed his help, and he'd volunteered for it. And even though she offered to pay him for the days, he completely refused; after all, he was getting enough money from tutoring Yotsuba and it wasn't like he was urging for extra cash at the time.

Though in the end, a few free buns didn't sound bad as a substitute for money for helping at the family business.

Right now he was watching the cash register while his mother placed a few freshly baked trays for show, and the smell of the bread filled the place and certainly whet his appetite. The boy had to remind himself constantly that those were goods for selling to resist the temptation to eat them, since he loved it as much as anybody else.

Fortunately, the bell ringing a customer entering helped him keep those temptations at bay.

"Welcome, what can we do for…?"

The boy stopped in his tracks when he saw who the customer, or rather, customers, were: five identical faces with expressions ranging variedly from joy and excitement to annoyance to see him at that place.

"Hi, Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba cheerily greeted him. Ichika followed suit, and Miku limited herself to raise her hand.

"What a surprise, Uesugi-kun," Itsuki said, in a tone that was halfway between courteous and sharp. "The day I chose to show my sisters this place, and you're here too."

"This place belongs to my family, anything wrong with me helping them?" the boy defended himself, replying in a similar fashion.

"Well, to your credit, it smells pretty good in here," Nino said.

Right then Fuutarou's mother approached, once she was done placing the bread on the stacks. "Excuse me, what can we…? Oh, you girls are…!"

"Good day, Mrs. Uesugi!" Yotsuba greeted her. "Itsuki wanted to come and buy some bread here, so we all decide to come and know the place."

"I see." The woman gave the five sisters a glance. "Well, I must say, it's more impressive to see the five of you all together. You're a group of very beautiful quintuplets, if you allow me."

The five sisters reacted differently to the compliment: Yotsuba and Ichika chuckled in flattery, Nino and Itsuki tried to look away to hide their blush, and Miku simply limited herself to smile. After the introductions, the five of them split up and began looking all over the place, searching for whatever they felt an urge for each.

"Yotsuba's sisters seem rather nice," the woman commented to her son.

"Some of them are, others not so much," the boy said as he stashed the bills and coins in the register.

"Isn't that because of something you did?" the lady asked giving him an accusing glare. "Or something you said?"

Fuutarou looked through the corner of his eye. He knew exactly what his mom meant: after all, she was present the day Itsuki visited the bakery for the first time. Fortunately, that didn't scare her away and she came back again to buy regularly, but they still reminded him he should apologize for the comments he made. He told them he already did, albeit only at Yotsuba's insistence.

As for Nino, Yotsuba told her she was just a little cantankerous with strangers, and even though technically they weren't strangers anymore, she still didn't like him for reasons that escaped his understanding. He didn't know what her problem was, and he frankly had no wishes to find out.

But today, as he was working and they were customers, hostilities had to come to a truce.

"I'm taking all this," Itsuki said as she approached with an overflowed tray. Miku also came with one herself, though nowhere near as full.

"Let's see… 4,860 yen for Itsuki, and 1,320 for Miku, that makes a total of 5,180," Fuutarou calculated with a preliminary glance, surprising them both.

"How are you so sure?" Itsuki gave him an inquisitive glare.

"I know our goods," he replied. Not too surprising since he could make even more complex operations even without a calculator. "Isn't that a bit too much for you alone?"

"This is to split between the five of us," the redhead cleared.

"Last time you alone ate more than half of it," Miku said in a dry tone.

Itsuki glared daggers at her sister, before asking for separate bills, while Fuutarou had to hold back the urge to laugh and say he wasn't surprised. Both she and Miku grabbed a couple of buns and began eating them silently after they paid, while Nino came over with her own tray. Before paying, though, she took a quick glance around.

"By the way, where's our honorary little sister?" she asked, confusing Mrs. Uesugi for a moment before she realized who she meant.

"Oh, you mean Raiha? My husband took her to the park."

"Aw, too bad," Nino pouted. "I was hoping to teach her how to make cookies like she asked me the other day."

"Oh, so it was you who made those cookies?" Mrs. Uesugi asked, to what Nino nodded. "You must be a pretty good cook then."

"It's no big deal, I can do more than that," Nino said with modesty, before grabbing a piece of bread to eat. "Hmm, though I'd have it hard to bake a bread as good as this. Do you have a special recipe?"

"Not at all," Fuutarou said. "Just that my lady mother knows how to give it her personal touch. Not even you could replicate it."

"Oh? Is that a challenge?" The girl glared at him, and Fuutarou could have almost sworn her butterfly ribbons suddenly raised threateningly.

"Fuutarou, there's no need to provoke her," the older woman said, trying to calm her son down.

"I'm just stating the truth, Mom," the boy replied in the politest tone he could muster. "Compared to you, she'd be a rank amateur."

"Amateur? I bet I can make it just as good, no offense to you, Mrs. Uesugi."

"Is that so? Why don't you put your money where your mouth is, lady?"

Right then, sparks began to fly between both of their eyes, which had already squinted to the limit. Miku continued to eat indifferently while Itsuki looked from side to side, as if trying to figure out how to defuse what looked like a bomb about to explode.

Fortunately, Mrs. Uesugi decided to cut the tension in the air.

"There, there, easy you two, please," she said in a kindly, yet stern tone before addressing Nino. "Since you have so much confidence, would you like to work part-time here? We can always use a pair of extra hands?"

"Well, I don't know." Nino began twirling her finger around her butterfly ribbon, alternating looks between Fuutarou and his mother. She probably was considering the offer, but didn't want to deal with him.

"It doesn't have to be now, but if you accept the door's always open," the woman said with a smile. "Fuutarou, I'm going to the back for a bit, can you watch things here?"

"Sure, Mom."

The woman went through the door leading to the kitchen, leaving the boy alone with the quintuplets. His look crossed with the second sister, who smiled at him in an unusual way, as her expression didn't look as sharp as usual.

"Your mom seems quite nice," she said. "Now I can see why Raiha-chan is so charming."

The compliment to his mother and sister made him smile, at least until the quint continued to talk, this time with a mockery tone:

"Hard to believe someone like you is related to them. You sure you're not adopted?"

"You know, sometimes I wonder the same about you five," he countered.

Of course, he'd only dare say that because his mother and sister where out of earshot. A small vein popped on Nino's temple, while Miku and Itsuki seemed to find it funny, covering their mouths to hold the giggles. However, the youngest sister immediately changed her tone and reprimanded him for thinking such a thing.

"Don't say such nonsense, Uesugi-kun. And you two, what's taking you so long?"

"Everything looks so yummy, Itsuki, I can't choose!" Yotsuba said.

"Then just buy a bit of everything and be done," the redhead replied.

"We have a different diet to follow. You know that, don't you?" This time it was Ichika who answered.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Now it was Itsuki's turn to get irritated by the comment while Miku and Nino tried to dissimulate the giggles. A few minutes later, finally Ichika and Yotsuba came to pay for their own trays. While they weren't as overflowing as Itsuki's, among all of them they'd pay quite a bit. While the second, third and fifth sisters left the place, the first and fourth decided to stay a little more to talk with Fuutarou.

"What an odd way to spend a day off," Ichika placed her hands on the counter as she looked at him. "Don't you ever do anything for fun?"

"No time for that," he said before looking at Yotsuba. "And you, have you been reviewing everything like I told you?"

"Of course I have," the ribbon girl assumed.

"I can help her with Math a little, but English isn't my thing," Ichika commented. "Come to think about it, maybe you can help me with that too."

"Only if I get paid extra. I have my hands full tutoring only one of you," he laconically said.

"If it's about money, there's no problem," the eldest sister replied. "After that audition I got a few minor roles, so I can pay you from my own pocket."

"Isn't that a bit boring?" Yotsuba asked. "I mean, you're always acting the part of the first girl to die in horror movies."

"It's a start, and it's not too bad," Ichika shrugged it off. "I'll have chances for better roles one day. Maybe in action movies, and you could help me."

"Help you?" a confused Yotsuba asked.

"You could be my stunt double and no one would notice the difference," the short-haired girl explained. "Remember that time I hurt an ankle and you replaced me in that school play?"

"Oh, that's right! Hahaha, that was pretty fun," Yotsuba chuckled.

Having been left a little out of the conversation, Fuutarou couldn't do anything but look at the two sisters. The eldest seemed rather satisfied with her acting job, even if she was a little pigeonholed on the roles. Even if he didn't say it out loud, he was a bit happy to know she was doing well. As for Yotsuba, it was also good to know she was working hard even without him; the fourth sister clearly was dedicated once she compromised on something.

He hated to admit it, but for girls who didn't care much for studying, they weren't too bad.

"By the way, Fuutarou-kun, what plans you have after the midterms?" Ichika asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I guess you'll take a break from tutoring for a bit?"

"I don't know, maybe I'll find a part-time job, or I'll just keep helping here in the meantime," he said.

"If that's the case… wouldn't you like to hang out with me?" the eldest sister continued with a wink. "I could take you out for a parfait or something else, if you like it."

Fuutarou gulped. Was she asking him out on a date? He gave Yotsuba a quick glance, and her smile clearly said she approved of the idea. The eldest sister was always acting flirty with him, and he had no idea whether she did so for fun or because she actually was interested in him.

"If you refuse, I could end up revealing that little thing you and I know," she added, still with the teasing tone, making him freeze. He knew she meant the photo of him asleep.

"Ichika, don't be such a meanie, why blackmail him?" Yotsuba protested.

"Haha, just kidding, of course I'd never do that," Ichika chuckled. "Though if you don't really have plans, why don't you take Yotsuba for one? A reward is always good motivation to work harder."

Both Yotsuba and Fuutarou were left staring at Ichika, and then glanced at one another. First she asked him out, and then she suggested that the two of them went out instead? What the hell was going through the eldest Nakano girl's mind?

"Well, we have to go now, the others must be getting impatient. Say hi to your mom from us, Fuutarou-kun," Ichika said.

"See you tomorrow at school, Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba added.

And without further words, both girls crossed the door to meet up with their sisters. Now that the five of them knew about this place, he was surely going to see them much more often around here.

The question was, would that be a good or a bad thing? Especially with the things he'd just heard.

----------------------------------------

Two weeks after…

Having returned to his daily routine, Fuutarou returned to the Nakano apartment to continue tutoring Yotsuba. Every day as the midterm exams approached, the girl seemed to double her efforts.

On the last day they were studying math, and they took so long Fuutarou again had to stay the night, though fortunately he preemptively took a spare futon to avoid having to sleep in a girl's room again. Not that he found it uncomfortable by any stretch, but he didn't want to give the others ammo to think he could be doing something funny in there or pry into Yotsuba's stuff. Though in any case, what could Yotsuba be hiding that he'd be interested in?

"Uesugi-san… Uesugi-san… Uesugi-san!"

"Hmm… ahh…"

"Good morning, Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba greeted him with her usual high-pitched voice and silly smile. For some reason he didn't find them annoying anymore. "Today's the great day, you ready?!"

"I'm the one who should be asking that," he said before yawning. He glanced at the ribbon girl and noticed that she looked a little bit more disheveled than she should. "You look like you didn't quite sleep well."

"Hehe, well, I was so nervous I woke up earlier and studied a bit more," she said sheepishly.

Fuutarou didn't know whether he should praise or scold her for that, so he didn't say a thing, before pushing the futon's cover off himself to get up.

"Where are the others?"

"They left earlier for Kurobara, but Nino left breakfast made for us." The girl headed for the kitchen, but then suddenly stopped, as she stared at the wall. "Er… Uesugi-san?"

"What's up?" he asked still a bit sleepy. For trying to get those exercises into her head, he barely got some sleep last night.

"Classes begin at 8:30, right? And the exams at 8:45."

"That's obvious," he laconically said. "What's up with that?"

In response, the girl giggled nervously as she pointed to the wall's clock. Fuutarou was still rubbing his eyes a bit and had to blink a couple times before he realized it pointed at 8:06 am.

8:06 am.

8:06 AM!

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH?!"

The boy's scream echoed across the entire apartment, and fortunately with the others gone nobody would complain about it. The bright side was that the realization snapped him awake and he jumped off to his feet, kicking the futon away as he got out of it.

"What are you doing, standing like an idiot?! Hurry up and get into your uniform!" he shouted.

"You're right!" the girl screamed as ran off back to her room.

He did the same grabbing his own uniform and getting into the bathroom to change clothes. He was hungry and wanted breakfast, but he knew being late for the day of the exams would be bad for both and that thought completely dominated his minds, as he screamed at his stomach to hold on.

Fortunately, he was able to get dressed fast enough and after making sure he'd put his clothes well enough (even though he was wearing the shirt outside), he ran off to stuff his books into the bag, and fortunately Yotsuba was already waiting for him with her uniform too, but now she was at the kitchen's table stuffing her mouth with a sandwich she tried to down with a glass of milk.

"Leave that, we have to go!" the boy exclaimed, although his stomach betrayed him with a groan right on that moment.

"Take a couple of them, we can eat them on the way out!" the girl cried out.

Fuutarou wanted to protest, but his stomach insisted once more, and when his rational half said going without breakfast meant he risked collapsing in the middle of the exam out of hunger (which would only make things worse), he did as Yotsuba said and grabbing a couple of sandwiches to stuff them into his mouth, swallowing the bites without munching them as they exited the apartment. A pity not being able to taste them properly, but time was a wasting.

"Why the hell didn't you wake me up earlier?!"

"I'm sorry!" Yotsuba apologized as the frantically pushed the elevator's button. "I told the others I'd wake you up before they left but… I fell asleep again!"

Fuutarou wanted to groan, but he wasn't in the mood to say anything, and fortunately the elevator's door finally opened and they could get inside. After a descent that, despite having no stops felt eternal, and seeing Yotsuba jogging in place as they waited, they finally could run out of the building's entrance.

"Your family doesn't have a chauffeur?" he asked. "Where is he when you need him?"

"Ebata-san must have taken the others," Yotsuba said. "Oh no, we won't have time to catch the bus!"

"Then what do you suggest? We run all the way to the school?"

A second later he came to regret pronouncing those words. The girl looked at him intently and with a big grin, grabbed his wrist and paying no heed to his protests, ran off as fast as she could.

The sudden acceleration probably left him in a shock, as when he finally realized both had ran across the sidewalk at least three blocks away from the Pentagon building. Hadn't she grabbed him he'd probably be left in the dust trailing behind too far from her. Yotsuba barely got them to stop in a crossing when the light went red, and as he gasped trying to catch his breath, she jogged in place waiting for it to change so they could get across.

'How can someone run this fast? This girl isn't human!'

And as soon as the light changed to green, the girl grabbed hold of him again and practically dragged him along. He didn't feel his feet stepping on the ground, as if they didn't even make contact, and everything went so fast he had no clue how they hadn't crashed against a post or a pedestrian yet.

"We're almost there, Uesugi-san!" he heard her scream after a while.

"Eh?" He raised the look and saw they were almost getting to the block leading to Asahiyama. Humanly, no one should have been able to run that distance without interruptions excepts on the crossings.

"Come on, hurry!"

"Wait, let me…!" But again, she didn't let him, and unable to catch his breath, he was dragged by her once more.

He didn't know how she got him to walk upstairs being so tired, but somehow, the two of them arrived to the classroom with five minutes left. Yotsuba's friends immediately asked why she'd been so late, while the others laughed at him for his state: his hair a mess, his shirt hanging outside, and sweating bullets after that heavy run. Or rather, after being forcibly dragged.

'At least we're here…' was all he thought. Better take advantage of the fifteen-minute break before the exam began.

He'd decided; he had to get an alarm clock the next time he went to study at the Nakanos' apartment. He couldn't let this happen again.

…

Fortunately, the five minutes before the bell, plus the fifteen of homeroom served Fuutarou to sort out his thoughts before the exams began. For the first time in his life the boy was worried before the exam began. Not for himself, obviously, but for Yotsuba. He knew the girl had done her best in studying, but would that be enough?

"Ready? The exam begins now!"

As soon as those words were spoken, everyone grabbed their pencils to solve their exam. Fuutarou had to put Yotsuba aside in his thoughts to focus on his own sheet, solving it as fast as he could. First exam was Japanese, which in theory should be Yotsuba's strong point, though the "strong point" part was a bit of a stretch, as the girl wrote pretty bad kanji and made plenty of silly mistakes. She'd have trouble even on that.

He could finish his exam with time to spare and much earlier than before, so he remained silent in his seat, waiting for the others to finish. He gave a cursory glance over his shoulder towards Yotsuba's seat, and saw the girl was concentrated, her arms crossed and her eyes shut tightly. Even over the pencils' scratching he could hear the girl humming behind her teeth.

'C'mon Yotsuba, you can do this…'

As if hearing his thoughts, the girl opened her eyes wide, like she remembered something, and quickly began to scribble on her sheet. At the same time, he let out a small smirk. If she remembered what he'd told her, at least there was the hope she wouldn't end in zeroes.

He thought back on Ichika's words at the bakery. Maybe the idea of a reward for a job well done wouldn't be too bad. She'd have to at least score thirty points to pass.

'How much parfaits cost?' he thought.

He'd have to ask her later, after they were done with the exams. He'd done everything he could up to that point. Now, all he had to do was have some faith in her.

----------------------------------------

Several days later…

The day the results of the midterms were announced had arrived, and all students were in a frenzy. Fuutarou didn't bother to check the ranking on the list: he was fully certain he ranked first, but that day he needed to check whether Yotsuba was on the approved list. However, the sea of people didn't let him see, as everyone was looking for their name, so he had no choice but to call Yotsuba and tell her to meet him at the library later.

He took a while to get there, and until then he did nothing but check his own result sheets over and over after they were given to him. There was no point since they were perfect, but he didn't find any other way to kill time.

"Uesugi-san!" the familiar high-pitched voice called out at the entrance, and the girl quickly approached. "Sorry for being late. The basketball club asked me to help with a practice."

"What did I say about telling me about it?" he scolded her.

The girl puffed her cheeks. "Aw, geez, it was too sudden, I had no time to tell you. And I forgot to charge my phone," she excused herself.

"Well, you're here now. Time to compare results and see where you failed."

"As you say, Uesugi-sensei!"

With that out of the way, the girl pulled out her results' sheets, and Fuutarou compared side by side with his. It was pretty easy since his were all correct, and that allowed him to see exactly where Yotsuba had fared better, and where she still needed to put more work.

As for the score itself… Fuutarou wasn't sure whether it was good or bad. On the one hand, she hadn't done as bad as he feared, but on the other hand, not as well as he'd hoped. If he looked at the glass half-full, he'd call it a big step up after that complete zero she had when they first met.

"So?" Yotsuba asked with a smile. "What do you think?"

"42 points in Japanese, 30 in Science, 31 in Social Studies. More than I can say of 09 in Math and 16 in English," he summarized. "Even so, I guess three out of five isn't so bad, even if you got two of these on the spot."

"Hehe, to be honest I was surprised that I did so well," the ribbon girl scratched the back of her head. "Though I got lucky in a few questions, I must admit I answered at random."

Fuutarou rolled his eyes upon hearing that. If she still relied on her luck, that meant they still had long ways to go. However, before he could say anything else, the girl's cellphone began ringing, but before she answered, she handed it over to him.

"It's Dad, he probably wants to know the results. You better talk to him."

"Why?" he asked, but the girl insisted and he had no choice but to take the phone and answer. "Hello, Mr. Nakano?"

"Ah, so you were with Yotsuba-kun?" a serious male voice spoke from the other side. "I assume the results are already in?"

"Yeah, in fact we were comparing right now," Fuutarou said, trying to keep his cool. Now he saw why Yotsuba had asked him to answer.

"Well, in that case, I'll let you be the one to tell me. And you better be honest, for I will know if you're lying."

"Yes sir." He took a deep breath, thinking of the best way to present the results. "The bad news, Yotsuba didn't pass all her subjects. I'm sorry to say her scores in Math and English were… abysmal, to say the least."

"I see," Mr. Nakano replied, clearly disappointed. "That is a real shame. But if that's the bad news, I assume you have good news then?"

"Her scores in the others managed to make up for it, at least partially," Fuutarou said. "Though I have to say she managed to pass by the hair, and the finals will be much tougher than this. She'll have to raise her grades much more, if she wants to pass the year with a high average."

"I see," Mr. Nakano said again. "That will make it a bit harder to transfer her back to Kurobara Academy, but I'm pleased to know you've made such progress. However, while I did promise you an additional bonus in your pay if she got good grades, the fact she failed some subjects means there's still room for improvements."

"I understand." Fuutarou nodded. He was a bit miffed that he'd been denied the bonus, but if he hadn't earned, it meant he'd have to work harder for it.

"That said, you've done a pretty good job, all things considered, Uesugi-kun," Mr. Nakano continued, a bit more relax. "I'm counting on you to support my daughter."

"Thank you, sir."

"Can you pass me to her? I think I need to talk to her about this too."

Fuutarou nodded and returned the phone to Yotsuba. The ribbon girl giggled nervously before she took it; in fact, she was so nervous she accidentally pressed the speaker button and Fuutarou heard all their conversation.

"Hello, Dad?"

"I'd almost say I'm a tad disappointed, Yotsuba-kun. However, I can say you put an honest effort, and the fact you passed two out of three subjects is quite a lot, considering how you were before."

"Yeah, I know, Dad. I'm sorry I haven't fulfilled your expectations."

"In less than two months you managed to improve notably with Uesugi-kun's help, which is more than any of your previous tutors."

"Uesugi-san is a great tutor," Yotsuba assured. "I don't always have it easy, but… whenever he explains things to me I get them better."

"Which means he must be doing something right," Mr. Nakano said. "You know I expect a lot from you, and if you want to return to Kurobara you have to do a lot better than now."

"I will, Dad! I promise!"

"In any case… I guess you deserve that I congratulate you for passing over half your classes. Good job, keep it up."

"Thanks, Dad, I love you!"

And with that, the girl hung up, and without warning jumped to hug him, jumping and screaming in joy like a little girl.

"Hey, hey!"

"Yay, Uesugi-san! Dad congratulated me for my grades! He hadn't done it in years! All thanks to you!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm happy for you too, but… put me down!" Fuutarou said trying to push her away. He was feeling a crack on his spine again.

"Ahem… ahem!"

Both of them stood still when they heard the throat clearing. Fuutarou felt his feet were raised over the ground (where did this girl get her strength from?), but they were too focus on the librarian looking at them severely through her glasses.

"If you want to celebrate, please do it outside the library."

"Sorry," both of them apologized

Much to Fuutarou's relief, Yotsuba finally put him back on the floor. The girl was blushing, though whether it was for making a ruckus in the library, or for that sudden outburst of hugging him, he had no idea.

…

Once class hours were over, both of them walked home together again. He'd gotten used to it, and was doing it more out of habit, though he admittedly didn't find it as annoying as before, despite the stares from everyone. As they strolled across the sidewalk, he had a lot to think about.

Specifically, he'd been thinking about Ichika's words. Yotsuba had certainly worked hard and improved a lot in a short time, even with everything against her. That definitely deserved a reward.

"Well, well," a voice suddenly said, stopping them both. "What a surprise that we meet again."

Fuutarou recognized him as the pretty-boy-looking student he saw in the bathroom the other day, who seemed to be smiling at him with a certain air of sufficiency.

"You beat me again, Fuutarou Uesugi," he said. "Although I congratulate you for ranking first in the list. I wouldn't expect any less of my great rival, obviously."

"Er… thanks, I guess?" he said. Why did he insist on that 'rival' thing?

"And you must be his disciple, aren't you?" he added addressing Yotsuba. "Nakano-san, is that right?"

"Yeap, Yotsuba Nakano, nice to meet you. Are you a friend of Uesugi-san?"

"Oh, we can't call ourselves 'friends', truthfully. We're actually rivals, so to speak. My name is Yuusuke Takeda, from Class 2-3."

"Ah, I saw you on the list, second in the general ranking!" Yotsuba exclaimed. "Right below Uesugi-san!"

Fuutarou gave the orange-haired girl a look. She knew this guy who proclaimed himself as his rival? He'd never paid attention to the names under him in the ranking.

"To my great misfortune," Takeda sighed, but still smiling and giving off sparkles as he talked. "In any case, you beat me now, but I don't plan on losing in the final exams. Until then. And I hope you do well too, Nakano-san."

Takeda continued his way in the opposite direction to them, walking away without worries. Fuutarou was still wondering what that had been all about, and why he still called himself his "rival".

"Wow, Uesugi-san, looks like you have competition," said Yotsuba. "You can't let Takeda-san surpass you, you have to keep working! And so have I, so I don't stay behind him!"

"Sure," he said. He quickly decided to deflect the topic. "Anyway, I was thinking that, even though you passed by the hairs, you did it. That means, you've earned your reward."

"Oh? Does that mean the parfaits thing is still on the table?" Yotsuba's eyes sparkled upon hearing that.

"If that's what you want," Fuutarou shrugged.

"In that case I have to invite the others!" Yotsuba immediately grabbed her phone to send text messages to her sisters. "It was Ichika's idea after all!"

"Hey, don't push it!"

If she ended up inviting them all, especially Itsuki, that would probably consume his last week of pay in full. He had no issue giving Yotsuba a fair reward for her efforts, but bringing the rest, that was a little too much.

Even so, clearly the reward had motivated her, and that gave him hopes that they could raise her grades for the end of the year. At that pace maybe, eventually, she'd get on the same level of that Takeda.

'I shouldn't ask for miracles, though,' he thought, laughing inside of how stupid that thoughr sounded.

Of course, he wouldn't let anyone take his well-earned place on top of the ranking.

To be continued…