Uesugi stood in the sunlight, the bottom of her hair blowing in the cool autumn breeze while the rest held firmly by a beanie with black and white diamonds. Stepping around the entrance of the apartment building in fur-lined boots and black leggings, cloaked in a black quilted jacket over her white blouse, she watches the corner eagerly. Minutes, perhaps an hour or two, pass before something garners her attention.

A small fuzz of black on top of a line of red and white comes into view, refining itself into Raito's figure as it approaches. "Nee? What're you doing? You order something?" He asks, holding a small paper bag filled with stationary and a small bucket of erasers.

Fuuka smiled, rubbing her brother's hair. She said nothing, only gesturing with her fingers spread apart. The boy chuckled, taking one of the erasers and handing it to her. "You're going to need this then." He said, entering the building as another breeze blew past. The young lady stood there still, watching the day drift by her like sand filtering through an hourglass.

"Uesugi-san! Sorry to keep you waiting!" The words rang out with the clatter of footsteps and breaths of exhaustion. "It was hard to wake Sanzo. Sorry." Shin bowed, pointing to his brothers collapsed and leaning against a wall. Fuuka chuckled, walking up to each of them and telling them all to follow her.

"What? You said we were going to study? Midterms are coming up, Uesugi-chan." Goro protested, arms crossed.

"I never said that we're not studying. Just follow my lead for once." Fuuka said, crossing the road. Leading the quintuplets around town, they enter a small building.

"Uesugi-san. Welcome back. It's about that time, right?" A woman at the door greeted her. "Oh, who are they?"

"Frie...aquaintances. They're quintuplets, as you can see." Fuuka gestured to their faces. "And they all have the same cut of hair. It's difficult to distinguish them."

"You want us to cut our hair!?" Futaji takes a step back. "Never!"

"One of you can remain the same. I'm doing this because I don't want to confuse you." Fuuka sighed. "It would be bad if I thanked Sanzo for something Hitonari did, or scolded Shin for Goro's actions. I'm sure you're familiar with this." Playing her cards, she made them rethink.

"Me first!" Shin excitedly sat down. "Oooh, number 4 please!" He pointed to a picture in a magazine, imagining himself with a spikey undercut as he ran through a basketball court or made a homerun.

"I suppose I'll go next." Goro took a seat of his own, taking the magazine from his brother. "This one looks familiar. Number 7." Within a few minutes, his hair is cut shorter than Shin's, left with a cropped fringe and a textured top.

"I guess it can't hurt to try." Hitonari got his top cut and combed over to the side, checking himself out in the mirror afterwards. "Wait, who's paying for this?"

"Relax, I'll handle it." Fuuka says, adjusting her beanie. "What about you, Futaji? Getting yours cut?"

"I think I'll pass. You go Sanzo." Futaji looks out the door, at nothing in particular.

"Why should I? Who cares about how I look?" Sanzo had pulled out an old handheld and was playing what looks like a platformer.

"Don't give me that. Come on, she brought us out here for this. So, you'll do it." Futaji argues, eyeing his brother.

"If you care so much about it, why don't you get yours cut. We just need to make sure we look different, right?" He retorts, taking hold of his brothers' collar and pulling it towards a chair.

"Why you..." Futaji catches a glance at Fuuka, who was looking at the others' cuts. "You're doing it." Shoving that hand off, Futaji returned to beside the door.

"Why? You're the one that actually cares about what she has planned." The third mocked, causing the second to look puzzled.

"Just do it Sanzo. You owe her." He says sternly.

"So what?"

"Ugh! We'll talk about it later. I don't want to ruin her mood." Futaji starts clenching his fists.

"Oh? I wonder why."

"What're you two talking about?" Fuuka walks up to them.

"None of your business. Thank you for the haircut Fuuka." Sanzo pulls down his hood, leaving the two of them as he gets his hair cut short and simple, with a textured top.

"So, Uesugi. Why the sudden gesture?" He asks.

"A thank you, for the fireworks." She looks up to him, smiling. "You don't know how much it means to me. I felt bad that you had to use your first salary on me, this is the least I can do."

"Uhh...it's nothing. Thank you as well Uesugi." The boy looked away, hiding his face by looking outside

"Can't you find anything other than Uesugi to call me?"

"What? Oh...like how you call us Assholes, dicks, etcetera etcetera..." He rambles, causing her to jerk her head away.

"Call me any of those and you're fi-" Her tone was dead serious.

"Fuu-chan." Futaji mutters under his breath.

"Fuu-chan? Better than nothing I guess. Oh, by the way. If their hair gets long again, just tell me. I can bring you guys here again."

"No need. I know how to cut their hair now."

"What?" She said with a gasp.

"I learn by watching people, so I can probably cut their hair like that again if I can remember how they cut it."

"Are you sure you're human?" Fuuka asks as the woman from earlier taps her shoulder.

"That should be everyone. How about you Uesugi-san? They should be growing again."

"I think I'll let it grow out this time. I missed it." Fuuka said, clutching the beanie.

"Fuuka-chan. We'll be waiting at your place. Hurry up, we have to review for midterms." Hitonari says as they walk out the door. She waves them off before going back to the conversation.

"Are you sure about this? It's not going to look good for a while." The woman says as Fuuka removes her hat, revealing her black roots growing from her scalp.

"Yeah, I know. But..." Fuuka pulls out her phone, looking at her wallpaper. "I feel like I should stop faking everything." She says, looking at an image, of her holding up an old polaroid of a young girl with flowing black hair standing next to a boy with rough and wild hair, the color faded.

"Even cheating in school?"

"How'd you know about that? Did she tell you, Maeda-san?"

"My daughter? She's worried about you, you know. If you keep copying off of her, you're not going to learn anything." The woman says.

"Midterms are almost here, huh? Time flies so fast." Shin laughs as he leads the way back. "Uhh, do we take a left or a right here?"

"You're hopeless, how many times have you gotten lost now?" Sanzo remarks, combing his hair back before putting his hood up.

"Now, now. I think it's that way. Let's split up just to make sure, first one to get to her apartment wins." Hitonari suggests.

"Do we really have to go through this every time?" Futaji groans, garnering an eye from everyone. "Fine, fine. By the way, why'd you go for dad's cut?"

"I thought it looked good. What of it?" Goro protests. "It's been a while, hasn't it."

"Yeah, when was the last time we looked this way?" Hitonari asks.

"How unobservant can you get? It's framed at home, by dad's old desk. Our picture from that trip." Sanzo says as he turns left.

A/N: A mostly filler set-up chapter. Need a way to transition to midterms.