(AN: Check the comment section st the end.)
"I'm already regretting this decision…" Miku muttered under her breath, slumping across the table as she turned to glance at Ren beside her.
"Too late. You already promised me," he replied sternly, not giving her the slightest room to escape.
The two of them were currently in the library long after school had ended, preparing for the upcoming first-semester midterms. Unfortunately for Miku, the mountain of material she had ignored since the beginning of the term was finally coming back to haunt her. Just thinking about studying every subject pretty much from scratch was enough to make her feel dizzy.
"What exactly are you panicking for?" Ren asked calmly. "We still have nearly three weeks left. If you stay serious about it, you'll do just fine," He assured her.
Miku still looked unconvinced. Slowly straightening herself, she glanced at him and asked in a quiet voice, "You really think so?"
Ren smiled faintly. "I know you can, as long as you actually try."
Her eyes widened ever so slightly at the sheer confidence in his words. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she narrowed her gaze at him.
"Sometimes I forget you're basically a stalker or something."
Ren simply laughed it off.
Since they were in the library, every word between them was exchanged in hushed whispers, careful not to disturb the silence even though only a handful of students remained inside.
Her curious gaze lingered on his face longer than she intended, and it didn't take long for Ren to notice. Their eyes met, causing him to shift awkwardly in his seat.
"W-What?" he asked, unsure of what was going through her mind.
Instead of looking away, Miku quietly voiced the thought bothering her.
"Was that really true?"
"What?"
"The stalking part."
Ren blinked. "I never said I stalked you."
"What you described was basically stalking," she shot back without breaking eye contact.
Miku held his gaze firmly, refusing to back down. There were still countless things she wanted to know about him. Ren had entered her life and grown close to her far too quickly, and the more time she spent with him, the more curious she became. So, she decided this was as good a place as any to start.
"What if it's true?" Ren shot back calmly, leaning slightly closer to her.
Miku frowned a little. "I don't know… It's honestly kind of creepy thinking someone knows so much about me—things I wouldn't want other people to know."
Her words made Ren break eye contact first. He leaned back dramatically, clutching his chest as though her comment had dealt critical damage.
"Ouch… right in the heart," he groaned theatrically.
Miku couldn't help giggling at his reaction. Then, after a brief pause, her expression softened.
"But at the same time…" she continued quietly, "it's kind of reassuring knowing there's someone who understands me."
She lowered her gaze slightly, a faint trace of shyness appearing on her face.
"Is that weird?" she asked softly.
Ren stopped his dramatic act and placed a hand on her head, gently ruffling her hair.
"It actually is," he said with an amused smile. "You should stay away from weirdos."
He was about to pull his hand back, but Miku suddenly held it in place with both of hers before looking up at him.
"Does that mean I should stay away from you too?"
Ren's eyes widened slightly.
Was she… teasing him?
It was a completely different side of Miku from the one he knows. And honestly, he loved it.
Unable to hide the grin spreading across his face, he answered proudly, "Oh no. I'm a completely different breed."
Miku narrowed her eyes at him as though carefully inspecting some suspicious creature.
"And what exactly is this breed called?"
Ren closed his eyes and smiled with shameless confidence.
"Love-struck."
And just like that, Miku lost.
She couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into laughter, her voice echoing through the otherwise quiet library. Almost immediately, several disapproving gazes turned toward them, followed by a sharp warning from the librarian in duty.
Realizing what she had done, Miku quickly covered her mouth, freeing his hand in the process, she lowered her head in complete embarrassment, her face burning bright red.
Watching the adorable girl beside him with fond amusement, Ren suddenly came up with an idea.
Leaning closer, he whispered near her ear, "How about you pass the midterms, and I'll answer one of your questions honestly. No dodging. No vague answers."
Miku immediately lifted her head, staring at him in disbelief.
Then, slowly, a new sense of motivation began to appear in her eyes.
"Deal."
It was exactly the kind of offer she had been hoping for.
----------
Meanwhile—
Futaro made his way toward the apartment where the Nakano Sisters lived, a growing sense of desperation weighing heavily on his mind.
The midterms were right around the corner, yet he had made almost no progress with them whatsoever. At this rate, every single one of them was guaranteed to fail without question.
Today, no matter what, he had to change something.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Futaro stepped inside.
"Ugh, he's here again…"
The very first person to openly show her displeasure was Nino Nakano. At this point, she genuinely couldn't stand his presence.
"Yay! Uesugi!"
Meanwhile, the first to brighten up at his arrival was, unsurprisingly, Yotsuba Nakano.
"Can all of you listen to what I'm saying?"
Out of the four sisters currently in the living room, only Yotsuba was actually paying attention to him. Nino remained occupied with flipping through a fashion magazine, Ichika lazily sprawled across the couch half-asleep, while Itsuki continued memorizing her notes as seriously as ever.
Realizing none of them would listen otherwise, Futaro decided to drop the one phrase guaranteed to get a reaction.
"Midterms are coming."
The effect was immediate.
Every single one of them visibly flinched.
As expected, most of them had completely forgotten about it. Well… Itsuki already knew, but she still flinched anyway.
Seeing their reactions, Futaro pressed further.
"At the rate you're all going, failing is practically guaranteed."
"And what does that have to do with you?" Nino shot back immediately.
Without warning, Futaro slammed one hand against the table.
"It has everything to do with me!" he snapped. "Whether you acknowledge me or not, your father appointed me as your tutor. It's my responsibility to make sure all of you graduate safely."
The sheer determination in his voice caused Nino to fall silent for a moment.
Even Ichika finally sat up properly from the couch, while Itsuki lifted her gaze from her notes.
Realizing he finally had their attention, Futaro quickly pulled out several sheets of paper.
"If you don't want me teaching you directly, then at least take these notes and memorize them."
Yotsuba immediately grabbed one and began carefully reading through it. Despite being the weakest academically among the sisters, she was also one of the most determined to improve herself.
"Why should we listen to you?" Nino scoffed, crossing her arms stubbornly.
"That's right. I don't need your help either. I can manage on my own."
Itsuki ended up siding with Nino as well.
Ever since the moment she first met Futaro, their relationship had been far from pleasant. Their very first encounter had gone horribly, especially after he bluntly called her fat, just because she likes to eat—a comment she still considered unbelievably insensitive.
Over the past few days, she had started noticing some of his better qualities. Even so, that alone wasn't nearly enough for her to simply forgive him and cooperate as if nothing had happened.
"Is that so?" Futaro asked quietly, his voice low and restrained.
"Fine then. If all of you can score above thirty right now, I'll leave you alone."
"Hmph. As if we'd listen to you," Nino snorted dismissively. "You're leaving either way."
"I don't want to do it either," Itsuki added firmly.
Ichika remained neutral, simply going along with the atmosphere for now, though there was clearly something on her mind that she couldn't quite bring herself to say aloud.
"I'll do it."
The sudden declaration made everyone glance toward Yotsuba.
She held the notes tightly with determined eyes.
"Not because I want you gone," she clarified quickly. "Uesugi is smart… and I want to learn from you."
Out of all of them, she was the only one openly showing genuine eagerness to improve.
"I can't deny that. You've got good taste, Yotsuba," Futaro muttered with a shamelessly narcissistic grin, instantly making Nino's face twist in disgust.
Then his gaze shifted toward Nino and Itsuki, looking down at both of them from where he stood.
"But I guess I understand," he continued casually. "It must be hard willingly exposing how stupid you are in front of an outsider."
The blatant provocation worked magically.
"You—!"
Nino shot to her feet, slamming both hands against the table.
"You better keep your promise and leave after this!"
A few moments later—
Futaro's eyes trembled nervously as he stared at the answer sheets he had prepared for them. A stiff, uneasy grin slowly formed at the corner of his lips.
"T-This is… unexpected."
Lowering the papers, he looked toward the four Nakano sisters, all of whom were eagerly waiting for him to reveal the results.
Then he silently turned the graded sheets around for them to see.
Their eyes widened in horror.
Futaro immediately facepalmed.
"You girls are even stupider than I thought…"
Forget scoring above thirty in every subject—most of them hadn't even come close.
"This can't be…! I thought I improved compared to before!" Itsuki stared at her results in complete disbelief, unable to accept that all her studying had only amounted to this.
"I don't believe you," Nino complained immediately. "You probably graded us unfairly."
Meanwhile, Ichika and Yotsuba could only laugh awkwardly at the disastrous outcome.
"If you don't trust me, check them yourselves later and tell me if I made any mistakes," Futaro shrugged, casually placing the answer sheets onto the table.
Then, with a victorious grin spreading across his face, he crossed his arms proudly.
"That means I'll be staying here a little longer."
-------
Only a few moments after Futaro left, Miku finally returned home.
"I'm home," she announced softly as she stepped inside.
"Welcome home, Miku!" Yotsuba greeted her cheerfully.
"Why are you so late? Where were you?" Nino asked with visible concern.
"I was studying in the library for the midterms."
Her casual response instantly stunned everyone in the room.
They all knew Miku was never the type to willingly spend time studying, yet lately, she had clearly started changing little by little—and there was only one person they could blame for that.
"Why the sudden change?" Nino asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "Is this because of him?"
Miku didn't answer the question directly.
"I just found some motivation," she said softly.
But the faint smile lingering on her face was already more than enough of an answer.
Nino stared at her in disbelief, and the others weren't much different. Seeing someone change little by little because of love felt strangely unreal to them.
Could love really influence a person for better or worse? Is it really that impressive?
For a brief moment, all of them found themselves wondering the same thing.
While the room remained quiet, Miku's attention suddenly shifted toward the papers scattered across the table.
"What's this?" she asked curiously.
"Those are the notes Uesugi prepared for us," Yotsuba replied.
Setting her bag aside, Miku sat down on the couch and picked up one of the papers.
"...that tutor guy, i see."
She remembered him. At first, he pestered her to study a few times, but after she became more involved with Ren, he had stopped approaching her altogether. Because of that, she had almost forgotten about him entirely.
Miku briefly skimmed through the notes, her eyes moving across the neatly organized explanations.
"…These are actually pretty good."
A small spark lit up in her eyes.
"I'm borrowing some of these."
She could already see their value—and more importantly, how useful they might be in helping her win the bet she made with Ren.
"Miku… you've really changed."
Nino's voice sounded unusually timid, almost as though regret was mixed into her words.
Miku slowly lowered the notes onto her lap, quietly holding them as her expression softened.
"I think all of us should change," she muttered while looking down slightly. "We can't keep running from the past forever."
The moment those words left her mouth, Yotsuba's expression fell.
Ever since what happened at their previous school, she had carried a lingering sense of guilt deep inside her heart. She genuinely believed she was the one dragging her sisters down, and because of that—
"I agree with Miku," Yotsuba said firmly, clenching her hands with determination. "I want to move forward and improve too."
Ichika smiled lazily as she watched the conversation unfold.
"Look at you girls, all grown up already," she said softly. "I wonder how Mother would've felt if she were here."
A heavy silence immediately settled over the living room.
"…I don't like it."
Nino's quiet mutter broke the silence.
"What don't you like?" Ichika asked curiously.
"…The way you guys are changing."
Her voice rose slightly near the end, irritation slipping through despite her attempt to hide it.
"Nino…" Itsuki called out worriedly, caught off guard by the sudden shift in her mood.
"Why?" Miku questioned calmly. "Do you want us to stay chained to the past forever? Wandering around without any direction and accomplishing nothing?"
The words came out harsher than she intended, but she wasn't trying to insult anyone.
She was simply stating the reality they had all been avoiding.
"That's not what I meant…"
Nino gritted her teeth quietly, staring down at her tightly clenched hands resting on her lap.
"I just wanted us to stay close like we used to when we were kids," she admitted softly. "I still want to keep the promise we made to Mother."
Since she was sitting closest to her, Itsuki gently squeezed Nino's hand in comfort.
"Calm down, Nino," she said reassuringly. "None of us have forgotten that promise."
At her words, the others quietly nodded in agreement.
Miku lowered her gaze, guilt faintly surfacing on her face.
"Nino… sorry. I didn't mean for it to sound harsh," she apologized softly. "It's just… someone told me that staying tied to the past forever won't do us any good."
Nino's eyes widened slightly before she slowly lifted her head.
"I get it now…" she muttered darkly. "This is all that stalker and that nerd's fault. Ever since those two showed up, everything started changing."
Her expression twisted with Anger.
"I hate them."
"Nino… that's a bit—" Yotsuba tried to protest. Even if it was technically his job, she knew Futaro was genuinely doing his best to help them improve academically, and she didn't like how Nino is antagonizing him.
But before she could finish, someone else didn't like Nino accusing her man.
"That's enough, Nino."
Miku's voice came out sharper than anyone expected.
The room instantly fell silent.
"Why are you blaming Ren?" she continued, visibly upset. "He's never done anything except help me. I'm not going to stay silent while you accuse him like that."