"Mom, everyone is going their separate ways. Watch over Mutsumi." Itsuki muttered to herself, praying silently for her sister's wellbeing during one of her monthly visits. As she stood there with her eyes closed, she could hear footsteps slowly walking towards her. "Hello, Shimoda-san." She said, already knowing who it was just by the sound of her shoes.

"You're here early." She said, taking up a spot beside the redhead as they both offered their prayers up. "You made it in, right? Congratulations." The instructor smiled, finishing her prayer by offering a bouquet of flowers to the grave. "I'll be going now. Are you going to come today?" She asked, taking a few steps away as Itsuki opened her eyes.

"I will; let's go together." The redhead took some steps toward Shimoda, walking beside her as the two of them made their way to the cram school. The days were quiet for the fifth sister who was either at the cram school or library. She would only find herself even more invested in her studies once her first year started in university, the lessons requiring more from her than she expected. Luckily, she had the support of Shimoda, but academic assistance can only go so far; she'll find that out at a later date.

"How have you been?" Mutsumi asked, looking at her sister through the screen of her phone. Mutsumi had bags under her eyes and disheveled hair, but still sported a goofy smile born from sleep deprivation.

"It's been going smoothly. It appears that I can focus on teaching the sciences, but..." Itsuki mumbled, arriving home and finding it empty. "But I don't know what kind of students I'll have."

"Isn't that a given though? Every year will probably be a new set of names and faces to remember. Did you not realize this?" The sixth sister asked, walking around her apartment and getting herself a jug of her coffee. She returned to her seat where her phone's camera was focused, sipping it quietly as she pulled out a large box. "I hope you're ready. I know from teaching you guys that dealing with idiots is incredibly hard." She said, switching on a device while pulling out some solder. "You have to be patient, yet firm."

"I see. Were we really that bad?" The fifth sister asked, setting her things down in her room and pulling out her notebook. Mutsumi shook her head, getting a screwdriver and a small brush. "I do need some experience, now that you tell me about it."

"Ask Shimoda-san. Maybe she can let you teach one of her classes. Anyway, isn't it late over there? If you need to do something, feel free to hang up." The sixth sister put on some gloves and left to get some lubricant.

"No, I could use the company while I study." The fifth said, flipping through the pages that she wrote on that day. "And I can ask you for help."

"I don't know if I'll be much help. What I'm studying is different. I'll try though." The two of them would work on their business while exchanging small talk for the next few hours. Itsuki would ask a question, Mutsumi would answer; the cycle was simple. The only thing that bothered Itsuki was the clicking noise coming from whatever Mutsumi was building. Itsuki would talk to Shimoda the following day, asking her if she'd be willing to let Itsuki teach a class; a few days afterward, Shimoda would come back with approval from her boss so long as Shimoda was supervising.

"Alright. Today, we'll be having Nakano-san take over for a while. I want you all to listen to her." Shimoda said, calling Itsuki who had been waiting outside the room. "Good luck."

Itsuki stood in Shimoda's usual spot while she pulled out a chair near the back of the class. Looking out at everyone, they seemed to be around their early teen years; all eyes stared back at her, some curiously, some in amazement. "Hello everyone. My name is Nakano Itsuki. And today I'll be..."

"Nakano? Hey, do people ever tell you that you look like Ichika-san?"

"I... er.."

"Yeah! She does! Hey, hey! Do you know Ichika-san? She's like an actress that's in all of the cool shows."

"Excuse me..."

"Isn't Ichika-san also named Nakano? Do you think they're related?"

"Everyone. Remember what I told you." Shimoda spoke up, seeing a look of growing concern and worry on Itsuki's face. "Nakano-san. Please continue." She said, giving the floor back to Itsuki as she got through her lecture without any other hiccoughs since the students were now wary of Shimoda. She dismissed the class and was left to talk to Shimoda by herself.

"The lecture itself wasn't bad, and you prepared well..." She started, making sure that the door was shut. "But you can't let your students run away with the class like that. It's something you get better at with time, but I just want you to know that." Placing a hand on the redhead's shoulder, Shimoda gave a calming smile.

"Can I try again sometime?" Itsuki asked, packing up her things and adjusting her glasses.

"I'll see if I can arrange for you to substitute in for one of my smaller classes. Would you like to teach older or younger students next time, since teens can be quite a handful?" She offered, walking out into the hallway with Itsuki as the two of them headed for her boss' office.

"I will probably have to deal with both if I become a teacher, so either one first is fine." The fifth sister said, mulling over the events that just transpired. Of course, they'd know about Ichika, and since they were identical they would get reminded of her sister the moment they caught sight of Itsuki. She would think of a way to keep control of the class, but couldn't arrive at one that she thought would work. She and Shimoda entered the office, giving thanks to her boss for the opportunity before Itsuki returned home. "What can I do?" She asked herself on her way home, taking a detour to stop at Revival to ease her worry with some sugar.

"Good afternoon, May-san. What will it be today?" The manager greeted her as he was serving another customer, noticing her by the chime of the bell. All of the staff members present instantly shot up, looking at Itsuki as if she would bring them to ruin if they messed up.

"Anything will do," Itsuki replied, sitting down at a table as the manager returned to the kitchen. While she was left to her devices, she returned her attention toward her predicament. "I need to keep them focused. But..." She scratched her head in frustration as her cowlick started to wilt away. Her eyes absentmindedly gazed over everyone else, finding a few familiar faces. Sitting in the opposite corner was Takebayashi, talking to someone on the phone as she ate her slice of cake. In the table next to her were Maeda and Matsui, sheets of notes and worksheets joining the plates. And walking up to her was Raiha and Isanari, waving excitedly at her.

"Itsuki-chan. It's been a while. I heard from Shimoda, so how did it go?" Isanari asked, he and his daughter sitting down across from the fifth sister. He took one look at her face and got the gist of it, sighing. "Not well?"

"I had trouble getting them to pay attention to me." Itsuki vented as her cake arrived. "I don't know what to do." Isanari laughed, his eyes looking off nostalgically.

"Your students remind me of myself and Shimoda when we were younger." He said, letting Raiha order some dessert for herself.

"She and I were delinquents, always up to no good. We cut classes, and got into trouble often; that is, until the year we had your mom as our teacher." He spoke, looking down at the table with a reminiscing smile. "She was terrifying, but there was nothing we could do. Wherever we hid, she found us and dragged us back to class."

"Mom did that?" The look of horror on Itsuki's face was only matched by the one of happiness from Isanari. "What did she do when you didn't listen in class?"

"She would walk next to us in complete silence, getting everyone else to look at us. It was unnerving." He said, chuckling. "But it worked for her. Though, I wouldn't recommend it for you though."

"Why not?"

"You're teaching in a cram school, right? The people that go there do so because they need to catch up, most of the time. If you stop teaching just because one or two students are acting up, then the others might have a harder time keeping up in their regular classes." Isanari said. "What did Fuutarou do to get you five to listen to him when he started?" Bringing up his son brought an idea to Itsuki's train of thought.

"I see. Since his situation back then is similar to mine now, maybe I can use his plan to get their attention. Let's see, the first day... he fell asleep because Nino drugged him." Itsuki tried to remember how it was like for Fuutarou. "Yotsuba was on board from the start. He had a private conversation with Miku, that could work..." She mumbled, thinking aloud while eating her dessert.

"I thought about it a bit. Maybe you should practice by tutoring people individually, or in small groups. So I asked around to see if there was anyone new that applied..." Shimoda said as she and Itsuki walked down the hall. It had been a year since that conversation at Revival with Isanari, and two years since she got into university. "So, I want to introduce you to your first client." She said to Itsuki as the redhead adjusted her glasses.

"Good afternoon," Itsuki said politely, bowing down before she got a good look at her client.

"Ichika-san?"

"I get that a lot. I'm actually her sister." The fifth sister said out of reflex, righting her back as she looked at the small child that would be her student. "Kiku-chan, right?"

"You're... Itsuki-san, right? The fifth one." Kiku said, looking carefully at the redhead. "You're going to be my tutor?"

"I will. I hope we get along well, Kiku-chan." Itsuki straightened out her clothes, greeting Kiku's father with a smile before she led the child away to a private room in order to teach her one on one.

"Mom... It's over." The redhead said as she knelt down to brush away the leaves that found their way on Rena's grave. She placed her degree on the stone, shutting her eyes as she thanked her mother. She didn't have long there, though; her phone vibrated with an alarm. It was for her private tutoring session with Kiku and some of her classmates. And tomorrow would be another challenge. She gave a nod to the stone, retrieving her degree and heading into her van to get to where she was going to tutor the kids.

"Man, why am I in the same class as you again!?"

"Would you keep quiet? It's the first day and I actually want to have a nice year this time."

"Ugh, they're so rowdy. Come on, let's go to the washroom."

"Attention everyone!" Itsuki said, raising her voice slightly louder than her students. She pushed up her glasses, greeting everyone with a smile as they turned their attention toward her. "I'm Nakano Itsuki. And I will be your teacher this year. Let's work together!" She said as the students returned to their seats. "Mom, Uesugi-kun, Mutsumi. Just watch me." She thought silently as she got the class to make introductions. The days of her life as a teacher turned into weeks, then weeks turned into months.

"Nakano-sensei! Nakano-sensei! How do I do this?" A student ran up to her as she was getting ready to return home. "I tried asking the other teachers for help, but it's so confusing. You always make lessons easier to understand, so can you..."

"I'll be here tomorrow. Try your best to think of the problem again in your own words. If you really can't do it, look for me then. You can do it, I believe in you." She placed a hand on the student's shoulder, encouraging them before she left to get into her van and drive home. She got there before Miku and Nino, so she opted to make a phone call to avoid working in silence.

"Itsuki, it's been a while." Mutsumi said, the sound of her keyboard clicking away accompanying her voice. "How's the job?" She asked, reaching down to get a cable before putting it out of view of her camera. Itsuki opened up one of her textbooks, reading through the material she was going to teach the students one more time.

"It's nice. The students seem to like me. And, based on their grades, they listen to me." The fifth sister smiled as she opened up her own computer. "What about you, what are you doing now?"

"Just fixing a bit of code for this prop. I need to get the timing down for the lights." The sixth sister sighed before she plugged something in that lit up her face like a strobe light. "Still too fast..." She groaned, turning off the lights and typing away on her keyboard again. Itsuki chuckled, watching her sister's face go slightly red in frustration.

"Is it for Tsubaki-chan's next movie?" She asked, to which The sixth shook her head.

"It's for a TV show. But she has been running around the house looking for things she could use." Mutsumi sighed as the door opened up with the arrival of Nino and Miku, the former noticing a letter that had been sent to them that Itsuki had missed. "Tell them I said hi," Mutsumi said before Itsuki hung up. Nino and Miku called her over as the three of them read the contents.