"Good evening, Shimoda-san." The fifth sister said, entering the cram school for her supplementary lessons. "I've brought someone with me tonight."

"There's something I'd like to talk about. And thank you once again for the festival." Mutsumi bowed her head, a bag slung over her shoulder and her eyes gazing off into the distance.

"Mutsumi-chan? Why are you here? Itsuki told me that you were in the top ten of the national mock exam, so I'd assume that you don't need me to help you." Shimoda asked, tilting her head as the sixth sister took a seat next to Itsuki.

"I need some advice, as well as your assistance for the movie." The youngest sister smiled as Shimoda began writing down the formulas that they'd be learning on the whiteboard. "Production of the latter will resume shortly, so I came to inform you of that. Anyway, please don't mind me, we can talk later." Mutsumi looked over at the formulas on the board, then to Itsuki's notebook. "It's 51, not 15." She corrected her sister's notes before pulling out a small notepad to check her schedule. The moment the rest of Shimoda's students arrived, Mutsumi excused herself and waited in an empty room for the class to finish.

"And then this bit of code here..." She muttered to herself, scribbling on the notepad as the door slid open. "H-Hello?" Startled and hiding her notes against her chest, Mutsumi stared at the visitor of this quiet room. A young girl with long twin tails that started around her neck, elementary age.

"H-hello..." She replied timidly, reminding Mutsumi of a certain headphone-wearing sister. "Who are you?"

"Oh. I'm just someone that came to talk with Shimoda-san...so I'm waiting here for her to finish." Mutsumi watched as the young girl took a seat by the window, pulling out writing implements before sitting down. She watched her carefully and noticed her forlorn look, her distant stare, and her hands resting on her chest. "Is there something wrong? You look like you're worried about something."

"Eh? How could you tell?" She looked back with a startled expression as Mutsumi moved to the seat behind her.

"Just a feeling. So, am I right?" She asked and got a nod from the kid.

"There's this boy in my class that I like. I've liked him for a while, but I can't tell him about it without getting nervous."

"Hmm? I can't really tell you what to do, because it's your life, but I'll tell you this. It doesn't really matter if you tell him or not." She said bluntly. "I'll tell you a story that's a bit similar to yours. There was this group of six sisters that all looked the same, and one by one they fell in love with the same person." Slightly somber, she took a deep breath before continuing. "I only know the story of one of the sisters, because it's a really long story."

Mutsumi rested her elbows on the desk while the kid turned her chair towards her. "She fell in love after four of her sisters, so she was late. But even though she was late, the moment she realized it she told him. Over and over again she told him how she loved him..." She shut her eyes, placing her hand on her chest while clenching her fist. "But he chose one of the other sisters. In the end, it was his choice, his love that was important. Telling him that she loved him only served to tell him that if he had loved her back then feelings would be mutual, but no matter how many times she told him, his feelings wouldn't change." Mutsumi tried hard not to crack, holding back sniffles and tears.

"What happened to the boy? Are they happy together?" The kid asked, sighing while arranging her pens.

"I don't know that part of the story yet. I'll have to ask the girl to tell me." Mutsumi said as the door swung open again, this time Shimoda and Itsuki walking in. "Ah, Shimoda-san, can we talk now?"

Shimoda whispered something into Itsuki's ear before the fifth sister began walking towards the little girl. "Yeah, are ten minutes enough?" She beckoned Mutsumi out into the hallway before winking at Itsuki.

"Hey, Onee-san!" The kid called out, looking back and forth between Mutsumi and Itsuki's faces. "Did it hurt?"

"Yes. It still does." Mutsumi bit her lip, walking away with the lecturer and leaving her sister with her new friend.

"Let's get down to business then. Since I know that's how you like it." Shimoda crossed her arms and waited for Mutsumi to speak, which the redhead promptly did.

"I... do not know what I'm going to do after school. Speaking frankly, I'm capable of a lot, but that may be a problem since I have such a wide range of options. I don't want to make the wrong choice. I've already asked my senpais from work, but they were obviously biased into me staying for the company." Mutsumi again lowered her head. "Ichika is an actress, Nino's going to university, Miku to culinary school, and Itsuki wants to be a teacher...but I don't know what I'm going to do." She interlocked her hands briefly before rubbing her palms against her eyes.

"I see. There are a few exams that help people like you pin down their future. Would you like to take them?" She asked, to which Mutsumi nodded. Shimoda directed her to another empty room, much smaller than one that was a bit more personal than the full-sized classroom they were at just a few moments ago. "There is a small charge for this one. But since you're Itsuki-chan's sister I can cov-"

"No, I'll pay for it. It's my problem, so I have to do what I can to overcome it. You've already helped enough with Mudou..." Mutsumi stared at the quiz, which was a long list of would you rather questions. "Speaking of that...thing. Has anything come up about it?"

"Police are searching for him, his house has been searched," Shimoda said as Mutsumi carefully mulled over the more difficult choices. "If they find any connection to Rena-sensei, then it can be used as evidence against him to back up your claims."

"Right. And onto the next topic, the movie." Mutsumi tapped her pencil on the side of the desk, using her free hand to keep a semblance of rhythm.

"You already have me on board. I just have to repeat what I said to Itsuki-chan, right?" Shimoda concluded, inferring from all the stories Itsuki told her.

"Yeah. Thank you." Mutsumi continued on in silence, answering around a hundred questions before reviewing them to make sure she picked the options she was happy with.

"There are no wrong answers, Mutsumi-chan," Shimoda reassured her surprise student, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I beg to differ. This is my future we're talking about here..." Mutsumi pouted, acting a little more worried than usual.

Mutsumi and Itsuki returned home after the test was collected, Itsuki looking quite flustered after talking with the kid. "What did you two talk about?" Mutsumi asked as the two ate their dinner, one eating six portions and the other eating a sixth of a portion.

"She was worried about a boy she liked," Itsuki said calmly, bringing a fork of pasta to her mouth. "I told her what I could. I hope she can manage to convey her feelings."

"She reminded me of Miku, were I to be honest." Mutsumi finished up her dinner of some ravioli in olive oil, taking two of Itsuki's plates with her to the sink. "The others are late, huh?"

"Quite..." Itsuki spoke succinctly, putting down her utensils without even touching her fifth plate of food let alone the sixth. "Mutsumi...how do you feel about Yotsuba and Uesugi-kun now?"

"..."

"Mutsumi?" Itsuki asked again, standing up and shoving her chair slightly back.

"How do you feel about them, Itsuki?" Mutsumi answered her question with one of her own. That inquiry made Itsuki freeze up, her brain slowly piecing together her answer.

"That..." Upon some reflection, the fifth sister turned a shade of red that rivaled their hair. "I'm unsure. You already know that I was rooting for Yotsuba ever since we met up at the lake that one time, but now that he's made his choice, I've been feeling this...this uneasiness."

"Let me ask you one thing. Once all of this blows over, once the rest of us are able to look at the two of them like we did before, without any feelings of envy or regret, do you think you'd be able to look back on how you're feeling now and call it jealousy?" Mutsumi asked, her face stoic as she leaned against the wall. "Itsuki, how do you view Fuutarou-san?" The fifth couldn't reply, she couldn't even find the strength to finish her food, so she just stood up and went to her room to think things through without anyone else's thoughts to disturb her.

"How I view Uesugi-kun? He's just a close friend, my tutor who has helped me countless times. I shouldn't have any ulterior emotions about him, right?" She mumbled to herself as she washed her hands in the school's restroom. "Shimoda-san and Mutsumi... they both imply that I've also fallen for him, but I couldn't have...I think."

"Ah..." Speak of the devil and he will come. Fuutarou looked at the fifth sister with a small semblance of shock showing on his face.

"The hallways sure are cold...I heard it's already snowing in the colder areas." She quickly blurted out something before hurriedly walking the other way. It was difficult to face him, at least for Itsuki. And for the most part, she didn't want to give Mutsumi and Shimoda any more reason to insist that she has feelings for the tutor.

"Okay? Itsuki, can I have a moment? There's something I'd like to discuss." Fuutarou lured her back with his own words.

"O-Okay? What is it?"

"I...you know, maybe this isn't the best place. How about we eat lunch together?" Fuutarou asked, to which Itsuki agreed, though she didn't really know why she did. But spending time with him made her feel a bit better, or it did until she began questioning herself.

"400 yen curry, croquettes totaling 200 yen, and 600 yen's worth of cake. It's comforting to know that some things never change." Fuutarou joked at Itsuki's expense, causing the young maiden to turn to face him with her irritated face.

"I had a feeling you'd say that." Itsuki resigned herself to being known as the heaviest eater of her sisters, but hearing it was never a good time. "This slice is actually a gift from me to you." She sighed, handing the tutor one of the slices of cake that was currently protected by a plastic cover.

"Huh?" Fuutarou asked, accepting the food with a perplexed look.

"Now it's only 900 yen, which is reasonable for a girl like me." Was this because she was now self-conscious of her food intake, or was it because she wanted to give him something from the start, even Itsuki herself didn't know the answer.

"I see...well, we can't keep standing around like this. Let's find a place to sit down." Fuutarou said, walking beside the fifth sister as they made their way around the room to find an unoccupied table.

"Now that you mention it, what did you want to talk abou-"

"Ah, Itsuki." Yotsuba's voice silenced Itsuki's as the star wearing sister looked over at the ribboned sibling. Itsuki looked around, surprised at meeting her sister out of the blue. Fuutarou turned away while Yotsuba looked dumbfounded.

"Yotsuba! Why're you here too?" Fuutarou asked in a somewhat irritated tone, clearly not planning for this to happen.

"Uesugi-san, err... It's kind of cold here, isn't it? I heard it's already snowing in the north! Well then..." The fourth repeated Itsuki's excuse from earlier, slightly shifting her feet to give herself some space.

"Hm, you two didn't make plans to meet here?" Itsuki asked, to which both confirmed her suspicions.

"If that's the case, then Yotsuba, why are you here?"

"It sure is crowded today. I can't find any empty seats anywhere." Nino's voice unknowingly answered the question posed by Fuutarou as she made her appearance. The air became tense and the sensation of discomfort hit them all equally as they stood there staring at each other. "...looks like we can sit here..." Nino broke the silence as she made her way to a pair of tables.

"Is the heat set too low? Well, I guess it's better than the places where it's snowing." Nino muttered as she held her sandwich in her hand. All four of them felt sympathy for those that had to brave the weather where the rain was replaced by the white flakes of snow.

"That topic has been coming up a lot lately..." Fuutarou voiced his concerns, eating his yakiniku set without yakiniku as usual, slumping forward to allow the wisps of steam from the miso soup to warm his face slightly.

"Hey, don't eavesdrop on our conversation!" Nino snapped back at him, but Itsuki just sighed.

"It can't be helped. By the way..."

"What did you want to talk about?"

"What is it you wanted to discuss?" Nino and Itsuki asked simultaneously, revealing to the other pair that both of them were called here for a discussion.

Fuutarou and Yotsuba's eyes widened, unable to comprehend the other's reason to call their respective quarry for a meeting. Since those two were put in a predicament, Itsuki took it upon herself to break the tension.

"W-Why don't we update each other on our post-graduation plans? I found a school that's suitable for me, and I've discussed it with the teachers. Of course, I'm not giving up on my original school, but I have that to fall back on now." At her declaration, both Fuutarou and Yotsuba relaxed slightly, easily able to bear this topic instead of what they were originally planning on discussing. "What about you, Nino?"

"I don't really want to talk about that now." As defiant as ever, Nino put the pressure back on the couple as she refused to speak any further.

"My plan of going to university hasn't changed, and I don't think I'll have trouble with the entrance exam either." Fuutarou said blankly, sipping his soup as his less intellectually gifted students stare at him with the same unamused stare they give him whenever he becomes aloof at his intelligence. They expressed their envy in various ways, Itsuki voiced hers, Yotsuba laughed half-heartedly, and Nino remained quiet.

"I actually just heard this from my teacher, but it looks like someone noticed me participating in various teams and placing in tournaments...and a certain sports-focused university has reached out to me." The fourth sister said apprehensively, especially with the tutor's previous attitude towards her relationship with the athletics.

"A recommendation? That's awesome!" Surprising everyone, Fuutarou looked absolutely elated as he spoke.

"Yes! A sports-focused university sounds perfect for you Yotsuba!" Itsuki agreed, riding on Fuutarou's excitement as Yotsuba added the last bit of her announcement that she left out until that point.

"But it does come with some conditions..." She gulped before she revealed the caveat of the program. "There's a minimum academic competency requirement..." The two studious ones' enthusiasm faded the moment Yotsuba uttered those words.

"...I see..."

"Y-You can do it..."

"Well isn't that nice? You sure are blessed." Nino said scornfully, glaring down her sister who sat across the table from her. "I mean, the other side just comes to you without you having to do anything. Talk about easy."

"N-Nino..."

"Anyway, did we get together to talk about our future plans? We didn't, right?" Nino's intentions were clear and weren't a shock to anyone that knew her. She wanted to confront the problem head-on and get it over with.

"Thank you for the meal!" However, Itsuki had other plans. The fifth feared a repetition of the events during their recent trip to Kyoto, the repetition of an event that nearly tore their family apart. "H-Hey Nino, if you're done eating, let's go to the classroom! It's warmer in the classroom!" Leaving no room for her sister to object, Itsuki frantically pulled Nino away from the table and into a staircase.

"Let me go!" Nino cried, trying to dig her heels against Itsuki's tugs.

"No!" The fifth replied desperately, but her grip was fading.

"I said let go!" Nino gave it one last pull as her arm was free from her sister's clutches. "Don't get in my way. Where do you ultimately stand in all of this? Why don't you make that clear?" Going off on the second to last sextuplet, Nino pushed Itsuki into a corner.

"I'm..."

"Forget it!" Nino stormed off like a runaway train, stomping away before Itsuki could give a proper reply."

Itsuki returned to the cafeteria, finding that the others had left even though Lunch wasn't even halfway finished. Wandering the halls by her lonesome, the fifth sextuplet searched not so subtly for Nino. "Itsuki." A familiar voice stopped her as a boy with a black bowl cut approached.

"Huh? You're alone too, Uesugi-kun?"

"Yeah. Yotsuba ran off somewhere." He looked to the side, avoiding any awkward eye contact. "What about you? I thought you'd be with Nino."

"Nino did the same thing to me just now," Itsuki said as the two continued their search together, entering a classroom nearby after Itsuki heard something coming from inside.

"Neither of them would be in a place like this," Fuutarou said, looking around in the dark and empty room.

"But I swear that I heard someth-" What Itsuki saw next nearly paralyzed her. Her legs froze, her breathing stopped, and a chill ran down her spine. "Kyaa! A mouse!" She jumped back instinctively, knocking her body into Fuutarou who was unprepared for the sudden increase in weight that his legs would have to carry. The two fell down, Fuutarou cushioning Itsuki's fall, much to his displeasure.

"Ow..."

"I'm-I'm sorry!"

"Ah...that hur-don't worry about it..." He forced himself to keep quiet as to not make the girl worried.

That feeling that Itsuki felt in the moment, the thing that caused her to rethink her position, her relationship with Fuutarou and her sisters. Itsuki felt her heart rate rise quickly, her cheeks turning red. "Were they right?" She wondered silently as the door on the other side of the room swung open.

"We shouldn't get interrupted here." Yotsuba's voice broke the silence and answered the two's curiosity as to who entered.

"Well, let's get this over with, Yotsuba." Nino's voice answered. Itsuki quickly began to panic, turning and asking Fuutarou if he had a plan in low whispers.

"You have to keep quiet, or else they'll notice." Fuutarou seemed calm, the current events leaving him unfazed. "But you know...I heard it's getting colder in some other areas." But things aren't always as they seem.

A/N: Alright, planning! I think I'll finish this version soon, then work on the revision with lower priority. So it goes

1: Timeline 1

2: Timeline 2/revision

3: Other projects.