A/N. Hey, I'm back. The contents of this chapter were supposed to be written last chapter, but as I said the train scene was too long. So here's a quick update to redeem myself.

Itsuki, Yotsuba, and Fuutarou entered the apartment absolutely drenched. Rain started pouring one block before they reached the apartment, so they had no choice but to run the rest of the way back. Thankfully the books they bought were sealed tight, and the school materials Fuutarou brought with him were protected inside his bag. They opened the door to see a frustrated Nino.

"Care to explain why you guys are soaking wet?" Nino folded her arms in frustration as Miku went to get towels.

"Ehehe. The rain caught us on the way back. We only had a little bit to go before we were safe, you know?" Yotsuba dropped the books on the floor.

"We'll explain later, for now we'll use the bath." Itsuki received a towel from Miku and started drying herself off.

"Wait, is Fuu-kun coming with you?" Nino let go of her anger for a moment to think about what might happen. Itsuki blushed at her statement.

"Eh? No way, you girls use it first. I can't possibly go in with you girls." Fuutarou removed his face from the towel. The wet look surprisingly suited him.

"But you'll catch a cold if you don't take a bath now. Don't be shy Uesugi-san, I won't mind." Yotsuba protested.

"But I do. Just take a bath first, I can wait here." Fuutarou was done drying himself, and went into his room for a change of clothes.

"He's right. No telling what can happen if you're naked in a room with him. Especially if you see that." Nino went to the kitchen to prepare some hot chocolate.

"Let's just go in Yotsuba. The faster we are the earlier Uesugi-kun can have his turn." Itsuki led Yotsuba to the bathroom.

"Fine." Yotsuba obliged and entered the bathroom with Itsuki. "And for the record I didn't want to see that again!" She screamed to let Nino hear.

"Achoo!" Fuutarou sneezed while changing in his room. He got out as soon as he was finished, and waited on the couch, wondering where the books went. Nino went beside him, offering a mug of hot chocolate to help him warm up. He tasted the drink, which reminded him of coffee. Expecting a bitter taste, he was instead greeted with a sweet flavor. "That's weird. I thought it would be bitter. Now it tastes different."

"The bitter one you drank before was coffee. The sweet drink you're having now is hot chocolate. Do you not like it?" Nino drank some of hers, wondering if she made a mistake. She remembered Yotsuba mistaking salt for sugar in the mix, and wondered if she did the same.

"Nonsense. Anything you make is delicious. Thank you, Nino." Fuutarou blew on the mug and took small sips, since the drink was still too hot to gulp down.

"Is that so? I'm glad then." Nino felt a warm feeling bubbling up inside her. Her cheeks went slightly red as a result.

"What's the matter? Is the drink too hot?" Fuutarou was concerned, staring straight into Nino's eyes.

"I'm sorry, it's not that. I just like drinking hot chocolate. I'm also quite glad you like it." Nino turned her head, unable to look at Fuutarou. She turned back and noticed that his hair hadn't fully dried yet, and that he was shivering. She put down her mug and hugged him. "If you're still cold, you can have some of my warmth..."

"Ummm..." Ichika finished sorting through the books, and gave Fuutarou the five textbooks. She knew that Itsuki and Yotsuba bought books for themselves, so she took the liberty of placing their books in their respective rooms. She took Fuutarou's manga for herself, however, thinking it was Yotsuba's. "If you don't mind, here are your books Fuutarou-kun." She sat on the couch across them, freeing the manga from its plastic cover.

"How did you?" Fuutarou was awestruck at Ichika's insight.

"It was obvious. None of us would buy that many textbooks at once. Besides, you mentioned it earlier at lunch." Ichika quickly answered as she flipped to page one.

"Not that. How did you know that I also got that manga?" Fuutarou pointed to the book in Ichika's hands.

"Really? This is yours? I thought it was Yotsuba's?" Ichika looked at the cover again.

"Yotsuba actually bought it for me. I think she wants me to read what she reads." Fuutarou checked the textbooks to see if they were all there.

"Those are just drawings with text on them you know? And Ichika, why are you suddenly reading those?" Nino cut into the conversation. She stopped higging Fuutarou when Ichika gave the books.

"Come on, these things are great. They're just filled with opportunity, you know?" Ichika started reading again.

"Don't you like manga Nino?" Fuutarou was curious. Nino seemed strange since her sisters seemed to like manga.

"I like magazines." Nino dodged the question.

"We're done!" Yotsuba exited the bathroom, with only a towel draping off her shoulders to cover her breasts. Nino knew of this hapbit of Yotsuba, and rushed to cover Fuutarou's eyes.

"Wha? Why?" Fuutarou was surprised at Nino's sudden attack.

"Don't look Fuu-kun! And you, Yotsuba! Head up to your room now!" Nino initially had difficulty from all his shaking, but he calmed down soon enough after understanding what might be happening.

"Oh, sorry Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba walked up to her room.

"Excuse us. You may use the bath now Uesugi-kun." Itsuki covered herself as she also went up to her room.

"Haaah... You would think they'd not exit the bathroom naked, you know?" Nino asked Ichika, who was laughing at their reactions.

"Can't blame them. Their clothes were wet, and we didn't give them anything to change into." Ichika winked at Fuutarou.

"Crap. I forgot." Nino realized her error.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll take a bath now." Fuutarou stood up from the couch, leaving the sisters behind.

"Don't stay too long, Fuu-kun. We'll have dinner soon." Nino reminded him.

Fuutarou got to enjoy a nice bath, and a very nice dinner. They had hot pot that night, perfect to warm themselves up while it was raining outside. After dinner the housemates started studying the material, with Fuutarou tutoring each sister based on their strengths first. That meant he taught five different subjects to five different girls all at once.

"Good thing we had these problem sets huh?" Fuutarou finished a problem set every time he set out to tutor a different quint.

"You're a beast, Fuutarou. How can you just finish all these when we can barely finish one?" Miku asked him.

"It's to help you girls. If I don't finish these what can I teach you?" Fuutarou reminded her as he compiled the papers.

"You don't have to push yourself too hard you know? We can study by ourselves." Itsuki stood up, satisfied with her work. She went to get a late-night snack.

"I think we're done for the day. Why don't we all get some rest now?" Ichika suggested.

"Yeah, it is getting late. We don't want to be late tomorrow." Yotsuba started cleaning up.

"That's true. We sure did a lot today." Fuutarou was satisfied for the day.

Everyone retreated to their rooms. Fuutarou was about to enter his room when Ichika pulled him out.

"Fuutarou-kun, let's talk for a bit." Ichika pulled on his arm as they went down the stairs.

"Oh, umm, sure, Ichika." As soon as they reached the bottommost step, Ichika put her forehead to his.

"I knew it... You didn't have to fake it you know." Ichika looked disappointed.

"So you noticed huh? I didn't want to worry everyone. Besides, we had a good study session, so it was worth it." Fuutarou smiled.

"It's not worth it. You know you just recovered. You can barely walk yesterday and now look at you pushing yourself all over again. You ran back here while getting soaked in the rain, no wonder you have a fever now." Ichika silenced him.

"It's alright. This much is fine, compared to what you sisters have done for me so far." Fuutarou tried to reason to her. "Besides..." Ichika's finger touched his lips to silence him.

They went to the kitchen. Ichika took a few tablets from the medicine cabinet and prepared some water for him. Fuutarou accepted the medicine and finished the water. He had planned to go up to his room afterwards before Ichika pulled him down and whispered into his ear.

"You know, compared to Nino or Yotsuba or Itsuki, I haven't done all that much for you right? Come here then." Ichika dragged him to the bathroom. "Let Onee-san brush your teeth before you go to sleep." Ichika winked at him as she prepared his toothbrush with toothpaste.

"Hah? Aghh." Before Fuutarou knew it, he felt his mouth being violated by Ichika. A long rod kept brushing up against the inside of his mouth, going up and down, left and right, back and forth while leaving no spot untouched. By the end of it all his mouth had been filled with white fluid, and he wanted to rinse off the mature aftertaste.

"How do you like it? It's my toothpaste, pretty mature right?" Ichika smirked at him, washing the instruments of torture on the sink. "With that I can say that I also took care of you."

Fuutarou felt dizzy after Ichika's assault. The medicine he had taken must have taken effect, and he felt drowsy afterwards. Ichika assisted him up to his room and helped him get on his bed. As she tucked him in, he muttered something. "My old self must have been pretty lucky to have such pretty girls wanting to take care of him." Ichika just smiled as she locked the door behind her.

The next morning, Fuutarou felt a little better. He still had a fever, but he could at least walk down to the table. He was surprised when he only saw Miku sitting there.

"Good morning Miku. Where are the others?" Fuutarou was concerned. Everyone always had breakfast together after all.

"They're sick. They were fine last night, but now they can't move at all. I wonder what happened?" Miku looked at the rooms.

Fuutarou wondered what caused Nino and Ichika to get sick. Yotsuba and Itsuki were understandable since they got caught in the rain. All he could remember was... Nino hugging him and... Ichika violating him.

The two of them would have discussed the situation had their stomachs not grumbled.

"Do you want breakfast?" Miku quickly offered to hide her embarrassment.

"You're gonna cook, Miku?" Fuutarou hadn't known of Miku's culinary prowess.

"Nah. We'll get delivery. No one will get to eat otherwise. Also since we're all gonna stay home, I might as well take care of you guys."

"But what about school?" Fuutarou still wanted to go to school despite being sick.

"We'll call in sick. Don't think I didn't notice. You're also quite sick yourself, aren't you? I can't leave you guys here alone." Miku argued as she pulled out her phone.

"My bad..." Fuutarou bowed his head.

"Don't worry, it's alright." Miku reassured him. The doorbell interrupted. Miku opened it to find the food she asked for delivery.

"That was fast." Fuutarou remarked as he helped put the food on the table.

"I already expected this, so I made the preparations beforehand. Here, help me bring their food." Miku started separating the bowls into separate trays.

Fuutarou helped bring the trays to up to her sisters' rooms. Miku forbade him from going into Ichika's room since she was naked, and asked him to leave out Itsuki's room since he might step on the food she had stashed on the floor. As such, he delivered food into Nino's and Yotsuba's rooms. He found them both to still be sleeping, with fevers higher than his. He stepped outside to grab towels to put on their foreheads, and found Miku doing the same.

"Thanks. I didn't expect you to help out so much." Miku handed him a towel.

"Don't worry about it. It's the least I could do." Fuutarou filled a small basin with water.

Fuutarou placed damp towels on Nino's and Yotsuba's foreheads, while Miku did the same for Itsuki and Ichika. Miku also covered Ichika with a blanket since at this point the only cloth she had on her body was the towel. Afterwards Fuutarou and Miku went to enjoy their breakfast together. Miku had ordered congee with meatballs as it was a meal easy for the stomach.

"By the way Miku, why did you have to order delivery?" Fuutarou bit down on a meatball as he enjoyed the thick soup.

"I'm not great at cooking." Miku said with a dead expression.

"Really? But Nino's great at cooking, I'm sure with practice you can be too."

"Nah. That's her specialty. Each of us is good at different things, so I don't bother."

Fuutarou lifted his bowl so he can sit closer to her. He stared at her and said "That's not true. Just because your sisters are the ones good at something doesn't mean you can't match them. You say you have your specialties, but that shouldn't prevent you from trying other things you may also be good at. Just like how you girls are each good at a particular subject doesn't mean you're destined to fail the others."

"What are you saying?" Miku was surprised at his sudden closeness.

"I'm saying you shouldn't limit yourself. I'm sure you can improve. You've tried to cook before, right? That means there was a point where you wanted to succeed, why else would you try? So please don't just give up on that." Fuutarou smiled at her.

"..." Miku couldn't say a word. She finished her bowl of congee before replying to him. "Alright then. I'll try to improve, Fuutarou."

By the time they finished breakfast, it was time to change the towels on the girls' foreheads. Fuutarou finished with Yotsuba and moved on to Nino's room when he saw Nino had finished eating and was on her desk.

"How are you feeling?" Fuutarou stood in the doorway.

"I want something to drink Fuu-kun. And something sweet."

"Alright, wait for me. I'll get some medicine while I'm at it." Fuutarou closed the door and went downstairs. He prepared a mug and added some cocoa powder and sugar to it. He then filled the mug with boiling hot water about two-thirds of the way before stirring the mixture. Once fully mixed, he filled the rest of the mug with ice cold water. This not only helped balance the temperature so one can drink more easily, the flavor was also more developed since the solution was basically saturated with the cocoa mix. He delivered the hot chocolate to Nino, along with her medicine.

Nino was impressed by Fuutarou's drink. "Wow, how did you get this much flavor? And it goes down my throat so easily!" She kept drinking until she finished the whole mug.

"I just added some sugar to the cocoa powder. Oh, and I first mixed it with hot water before finishing with cold water." Fuutarou started a lecture.

"Ah, so that it isn't too hot when I drink it." Nino was proud that she figured it out.

"That, and because it allows the flavor to come out. You lose some of the flavor if you use too powerful a solvent, in this case hot water. So I remedied that by also adding cold water. That allows the flavor to come out more. Basically, you need to achieve the right mix of hot-and-cold to get what you want." Fuutarou looked at her mug. "Ah, but you finished it. You didn't even drink the medicine with it..."

"Seconds please!" Nino showed him an innocent childlike smile, similar to the ones Yotsuba makes. Fuutarou couldn't help but feel obliged to do so. As he prepared Nino's second mug, Miku took a sip of his drink.

"That's good. The others might like it. Make some more for them, and for me too." Miku praised his hot chocolate.

"Really?" Fuutarou planned on giving tea to Yotsuba, but he had no idea how to make tea, so he just made hot chocolate for all the sisters.

Meanwhile, Isanari was alone in the Uesugi household.

[What do I say to Raiha? She wants Fuutarou back as soon as possible, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon.] He pondered as he looked at the Uesugi Bakery sign. [What do I do now? Fuutarou, please come back soon. I don't want to lose you too.]

A/N. Dammit the chapter's gotten too long again!

On a side note, I noticed whenever I did the hot cocoa method to my drinks it actually works. I always feel that if I only use hot water, it "dissolves too much". Dunno if it's placebo or not, but I feel that supersaturated solutions are more flavorful. Basically think of a thin gravy vs thick gravy thing, which type has a more intense flavor?

By the way, tsundere can also be interpreted as hot-and-cold, so yeah, good luck, Nino.