A/N: Yo, everyone! As you saw, Fuutarou saved Nino from some bastards and found out about her horrible past, seeing her fragile side.
This prompted him to comfort her and promise her that he would protect her from now on, bringing the two of them to become friends. Nino was happy to have finally found a true friend that cares deeply about her and also decided to be taught by him. Her sisters don't know that Fuutarou knows about Nino's past, but they clearly saw how she and the boy are close friends now. What can happen next? Let's see!
During a Tuesday morning, some rays of sunlight entered in Nino's room, waking her up from her sleep. She scratched a bit he r eyes and yawned, a little annoyed to be woken up like that but smiling while thinking of preparing breakfast and going to to school.
The reason? She looked forward to spend again some time with her new dear friend, Uesugi Fuutarou. Since he saved her from those jerks and she told him about her past, the boy did nothing if not comforting her by hugging her and promising her that he would protect her from anyone that tried to hurt her.
Nino had other friends in her class, but no one of them was like Fuutarou; his courage to fight against those creeps, his hug and that comforting feeling of safety that he gave her were something she really liked and that made her happy to be his friend now. The boy also liked the nickname that she gave him and was very nice with her during the tutoring sessions of the day before and Monday, patting her head and without scolding her for her mistakes on her assignments.
'H-he's nicer with me than with my sisters…He cares so much about me now that he's afraid of making me cry if he scolds me...You're so kind, Fuu-kun.', she thought, smiling and blushing while she wa changing her pajamas with her school uniform.
She then went downstairs to make breakfast, finding Yotsuba drinking an orange juice at the table. "Good morning, Nino! What are you going to make for breakfast?", greeted her the bunny ribbon girl.
"Good morning, Yotsuba. I thought of making some toasts with cheese and ham this time.", said the social butterfly, going to the kitchen to wear an apron and starting to prepare the toasts.
"You're smiling a lot. Is it because of Uesugi-San?"
Nino blushed a bit at that question, smiling nervously. "W-well, I-I'm just happy to have a friend like him that cares deeply about us. He may be rude, but he's r-really kind.", she replied while cutting the bread.
"Hehe, I'm glad that you and him are friends now. Speaking of which, he's nicer with you than with me and the others.", said Yotsuba, giggling and putting a hand on her chin.
"Who knows? Maybe Fuutarou-kun likes Nino more than a friend fufu.", suddenly said Ichika, coming down from the stairs and yawning.
"W-what are you s-saying?! F-Fuu-kun and I are just friends!", exclaimed a flushed Nino, frowning.
"But he's still nicer with you everytime. He never scolds you for making mistakes on your assignments for example.", was Ichika's teasing, making Nino blush embarassed and pout while Yotsuba giggled.
Soon after, also Miku and Itsuki got down from their rooms and joined their sisters to have breakfast with the toasts made by Nino. They chatted about school and Fuutarou, with Ichika teasing Nino again about how the boy cared so much about her while Miku pouted jealously.
'I'm glad that Nino and Fuutarou are friends now, but I don't like that she clings that much on him and he treats her more nicely.', thought Miku, frowning. Obviously, Fuutarou didn't scold her and the others too much during the study sessions, but like the others, she saw how nicer he was with Nino and how she always sat next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.
The young man seemed also to not mind that, as he patted her head often in exchange. That made Ichika, Miku and Itsuki a bit jealous, since they wanted to receive a headpat and cling on him too.
After they were done with their breakfast, the 5 sisters took their school bags and left the apartment to be accompanied by Ebata towards Asahiyama. During the way, Nino was scrolling on her phone, stopping to admire a selfie that she and Fuutarou took to celebrate their newborn friendship. Specifically, she admired the smile that Fuutarou had in that photo, which made her smile as well.
'Even I was mean to you when we met, you always tried to make friends with me, worrying so much about me that you even saved me like a hero from those creeps. And after I told you about those painful memories, you comforted me and promised me that you will protect me. I wish I met you way earlier, Fuu-kun.', she thought, smiling blissfully at remembering how Fuutarou held her close to his chest to comfort her after he saw her crying.
Such gesture combined with his warmth were something that Nino liked very much, as his warmth was able to get rid of the sadness that affected her. Plus, the smile he started to show often when he looked at her was so nice that made her even happier to have him as friend.
"Ehhh?! Nino has a selfie with Uesugi-San on her phone!", exclaimed Yotsuba that peeked at her phone, making Nino gasp and blush.
"W-what?! Let me see!", exclaimed Itsuki, curious and jealous like Miku was.
"I-It's just a photo we took to celebrate put newborn friendship!", said Nino, blushing more while her sisters saw the photo.
"Fuutarou-kun is smiling so happily in this photo…Are we sure that you and I are just friends?", asked her Ichika teasingly.
"S-shut up!", was the reply of an annoyed Nino, making Ichika giggle while Miku and Yotsuba were pouting because they wanted a photo with Fuutarou too. In Itsuki's case, she still had the photo taken with him and Raiha that time they went to the arcade that she kept in her room in a picture frame, but she wanted one where he smiled genuinely as well.
Watching the funny interaction between the 5 siblings made Ebata smile while he was driving, mentally thanking Fuutarou for being such a good friend to the quints and not only a good tutor. Some minutes later, the limousine stopped in front of Asahiyama's gates, so the quints got down from the car and greeted Ebata before going towards the school building.
Once inside there, each one of them went to her own class, with Itsuki reaching hers and finding Fuutarou at his desk while he revised some notes.
"Good morning, Uesugi-kun.", she greeted him, sitting at the desk next to his.
"Good morning you too, Itsuki. Hmm? You have a piece of ham on your cheek.", he told her, raising an eyebrow.
"Ehh?! Ah! It's because of the toasts I ate at breakfast!", she exclaimed, blushing embarassed while he struggled to not laugh.
"D-don't laugh, Uesugi-kun!", she told him, pouting while some classmates chuckled too.
"Hahaha, sorry. It's just that you're so funny.", he replied, laughing while she continued to pout before giggling too. Their classmates joined their chuckling before the English teacher arrived to start the lesson, with Fuutarou showing again to be the best student of Asahiyama by answering most of the questions made by the teacher.
He also cared to help Itsuki with taking notes in order to not lose any piece of information. The ahoge girl was thankful to him for caring that much, even if she blushed when she eavesdropped some classmates whispering that she and Fuutarou liked each other.
'Hmph, these guys think that just because I'm being nice with Itsuki. I'm nice with Nino too, idiots.', thought the young man, a little annoyed because of the whispers. Thankfully for his classmates, he didn't hear any type of insult or mock towards him or Itsuki, as he wouldn't hesitate to throw a hard glare to those who dared to mock them.
After Nino told him about her dark past, not only he was very protective of her, but he was also of her sisters. Of course, when it came to the second oldest quint, his protective behavior was much stronger because he didn't want to see her cry again like she did on Monday. And as he told her, he didn't care if those that would make her cry were girls or boys; he would make then pay for hurting her anyways.
'Tormenting her to the point that they wounded her and left some scars on her stomach…I can't believe that there could be such disgusting students at Kurobara, but if they dare to appear and hurt Nino again, I will make them regret it.', thought the young man, clenching his left fist due to the anger he felt towards them. He kept a normal smile while he was helping Itsuki, but it wasn't easy to keep his annoyance in control.
"Oh yeah, I remember you guys that next week there will be the school camp on the mountains, with a test of courage that has been assigned to this class to prepare. Someone wants to volunteer to take car of it?", suddenly said the teacher, catching the attention of everyone.
No student raised his/her hand, so the teacher sighed and decided to choose randomly, selecting a boy and a girl that frowned and accepted reluctantly. "T-thank goodness I haven't been chosen, I-I'm scared of monsters and ghosts.", said Itsuki, sighing in relief.
"Really? I guess you're not a fan of horror movies then.", said Fuutarou instead.
"I-I would scream everytime there is jump scare scene. Mouu, don't chuckle!", she replied, pouting when she saw him laughing a little.
"Haha, knowing this makes really cute, Itsuki.", he said, causing her to blush profusely. She also felt her heart skip a beat, bringing to lean her head on his shoulder too. Fuutarou blushed a little for that, but he wasn't bothered and let her do, not caring about the whispered rumours of his classmates.
'Even if he's nicer with Nino than with me and the others, he's always kind. Y-you are rude when you scold me for my mistakes, but you always care about me and my sisters, Uesugi-kun.', thought the young girl, smiling and blushing while leaning he head on the boy's shoulder.
The morning lessons proceeded normally until it wasn't lunch time, and when the bell rang, Fuutarou got up from his desk to go towards Nino's class, telling Itsuki to go to the cafeteria meanwhile. She pouted a bit for losing the sweet contact with him, also because she felt jealous of Nino.
After reaching Nino's class, Fuutarou stepped inside and saw how a boy was bothering the social butterfly by asking her to join for lunch, despite she was telling him that she was not interested. But when the idiot tried to touch her, Fuutarou got angry and quickly grabbed his wrist, shocking the jackass while Nino blushed and was happy to see him.
"Can't you see that she's not interested, dumbass? Leave her alone.", was the golden eyes tutor's threat, which scared the idiot and shocked Nino's classmates.
"W-what does it matter to you?!", said the idiot, trembling.
The young tutor glared at him and replied, "She's my friend and I don't like seeing guys like you around her. Leave before it turns ugly for you."
Fuutarou's words combined with his aggressive golden eyes made the idiot scared as if he had a monster in front of him, so he quickly went away after Fuutarou released his wrist. Meanwhile, Nino and her classmates were stunned by what the top student said, with the social butterfly blushing and feeling very glad.
"Nino, are you ok? He didn't do anything to you, right?", asked her Fuutarou, changing his glare in a worried look.
"I-I'm ok, Fuu-kun, thank you.", she told him, smiling at him. The boy smiled too and offered his hand to her that she gladly took before leaving her class with him.
"F-Fuu-kun, thanks again for protecting me.", she told him while walking, leaning her head on his shoulder and holding his hand tighter.
"I promised you that I would protect you and I always keep my promises.", he told her, intertwining his fingers with hers.
Nino was happy to hear him stating his promise again, enjoying the warmth that holding his hand gave her. The students that noticed them in the corridor were stunned at seeing them walking and holding hands like that, with the boys feeling envious of Fuutarou.
He and Nino walked for some minutes before arriving to the cafeteria, where she paid for both their lunches as she had started to do and they went towards her sisters' table.
"Hello, Fuutarou-kun. You really like holding hands with Nino, huh?", teased him Ichika when he and Nino sat down.
"I-I just saw an idiot bothering her earlier, so I m-made sure that no one else harassed her.", he replied, blushing and frowning.
"I heard in fact that you protected her and scared the boy who was bothering her, Uesugi-San. You care a lot about Nino, hehe.", salida a giggling Yotsuba.
"W-well, Fuu-kun and I are friends, after all.", said the social butterfly, getting closer to Fuutarou.
"Aren't you clinging on him too much?", asked her a pouting Miku.
"S-shut up! I-It's normal for me clinging on him."
"Besides, it doesn't bother me.", said Fuutarou instead, smiling while the young girl leaned her head again on his shoulder. Miku and Itsuki pouted at that sight while Yotsuba and Ichika found them cute; they could see a happy expression on Nino's face, after all.
The 6 students started then to eat and to chat about what they would do during the study session later and also about the incoming school camp of next week. Yotsuba talked in fact about the bonfire dance that would take place during the school trip, mentioning a legend about that dance that said that a couple that danced together at the bonfire, they were fated to stay together forever.
Ichika and Yotsuba found it pretty romantic while Miku and Itsuki thought it was just a legend and nothing more. In Nino's case, she found it a little childish but also pretty romantic.
But what Fuutarou said next shocked both her and her sisters, "You heard about that legend, huh? Yeah, it's very romantic."
"W-wait, but you said that romance stuff was something pointless in a student's life.", said Ichika, still stunned.
"True, but let's say that making friends with you changed me.", he said, smiling. He also held Nino's hand under the table, making her blush and giving her again that feeling of safety and warmth.
'Fuu-kun, thank you.', she thought, smiling and keeping her head on his shoulder. But that blissful moment was ruined when someone approached the table and said, "You and Nakano-San are lovers?!"
Nino looked at her right like her sisters did to see the guy that harassed her in class earlier, frowning and glaring at Fuutarou . She also registered his words, getting flustered.
"You again? I told you to leave Nino alone.", said Fuutarou, glaring menacingly at the idiot, scaring him and some students around with the intensity of his glare.
"S-since when you and her are dating?!", exclaimed the jackass, ignoring Fuutarou's words and getting closer.
Getting angry, Fuutarou got up from his seat and stood between Nino and the jackass, impeding him to get closer to the girl. Nino was moved by that while her sisters and the other students were stunned by Fuutarou's protective side.
"Listen up very well, because I won't repeat it: Nino is my friend, and if I see you and other assholes bothering her, you're going to regret it.", said the young tutor, glaring ferociously at the idiot with his golden eyes. His words and that glare were enough to make the jackass tremble in fear while the other students felt intimidated or admired Fuutarou's protective behavior.
Not wanting to enrage the boy further, the idiot took his leave immediately while some students started to whisper to each other about what they just saw. Meanwhile, the other quints were shocked by Fuutarou's behavior; first he and Nino became friends and they started to hold hands frequently, and then he showed to be very protective of her, intimidating the other guys like he just did.
But their shock was bigger when he turned to look at Nino and she enveloped in a hug, snuggling her face into his chest. "Everything's fine, Nino. That asshole won't bother anymore.", told her Fuutarou, hugging her back and making some female students to smile at such display of affection.
"W-Wow, you were so cool, Uesugi-San! You protected Nino and made that guy rin away!", exclaimed Yotsuba, smiling and giving a thumbs up to him
"I agree, y-you were amazing, Fuutarou.", said Miku, hiding her jealousy at seeing Nino and Fuutarou clinging on each other while he thanked her and Yotsuba.
'His protective behaviour is strange, it looks that it's connected to something more than just being Nino's friend. What could it-W-wait, maybe she told him a-about her past?', thought Ichika, her eyes widening at the hypothesis. The fact that Nino clung so much on him and that he was overprotective of her confirmed her suspicions that Fuutarou knew about Nin's terrible past, and she must have told him about it two days ago when she and he became friends.
The oldest sister remembered clearly how her sister was often tormented by bullies in the past, and even if she and the other quints tried to help her, the bullies continued to torment the social butterfly. Ichika remembered that terrible day that her sister was wounded at Kurobara and brought to the hospital; a terrible day afte which Nino had those horrible scars on her stomach that she wanted to hide.
If Fuutarou knew about what Nino went through, that meant he also knew about her scars. So that was why he was so protective of her now too; he didn't want her to get hurt again, arriving to scare away any guy that approached her. And since it was some girls that wounded Nino, Ichika was sure that he wouldn't hesitate to threaten some girls that wanted to hurt the social butterfly.
'Now I see why he cares so much about her and is even nicer with her; he doesn't want that she goes through that torment again. Fuutarou-kun, thank you for caring so much about my sister.', thought Ichika, smiling and giggling at seeing the boy and Nino still each other. She was a little jealous of her sister, but she couldn't negate that she was glad that Nino finally found a true friend that cared about her.
The two teenagers kept hugging each other for a little more before returning to eat, with the boy finishing his yakiniku dish fast. Itsuki was still pouting for seeing Fuutarou and Nino hugging each other, but she was thankful to him for being so caring towards her sister.
When the bell rang, the young man statyed to go back to his class, but someone tugged on his shirt. He turned around to see a blushing Nino holding on his shirt, so he smiled and took his hand. "Let's go, Nino. I will accompany you back to your class.", he told her, making her smile.
The two of them left, smiling at each other and greeting her sisters while ignoring the glances of other students. "T-they say they're friends, but they are too close to each other.", said Yotsuba, stunned again by such show of affection.
"Maybe Fuutarou-kun likes Nino more than as a friend, and she feels the same fufu."said Ichika, giggling.
"We should go back to our classes too anyways.", said Miku instead to change the topic, pouting in jealousy towards Nino. Her sisters nodded and so they all left the cafeteria to go to their classes.
Meanwhile, Fuutarou accompanied Nino back to her classroom, telling her to see him and her sisters later for the tutoring sessions. She frowned and said that she knew about it, blushing when he chuckled and patted her head.
"If some bastard tries to bother you, call me immediately. I will teach him to stay away from you.", he told her before leaving for his class, winking at her. The girl smiled at him in return, touching her head where he patted her.
During her childhood and in her previous schools, she never received so much affection from people outside of her family. But there it was a young man like Fuutarou that was doing his best to protect her from those who wanted to harm her and to be a good friend that comforted her when she was sad.
While thinking about him, she also thought about that bonfire legend that Yotsuba talked about at lunch, blushing at the idea of inviting Fuutarou to dance with her. She wasn't sure if he would accept in the case she invited him, as he and she became friends just 2 days ago.
Though, Fuutarou cared so deeply about her and was even nicer with her than with her sisters that it looked like he had strong feelings. So, maybe inviting to dance with her at the bonfire would make him very happy.
'T-there's the possibility he could be the one to invite me.', she thought, imagining the moment he would invite her to dance with him by looking at her with those gem like golden eyes. Such imagination made her blush a storm, making her heart beat faster while entering in her class.
The second period's lessons went normally until they weren't finished, so Fuutarou and the quints met at the gates of Asahiyama to be accompanied to the Pentagon by Ebata with the limousine. Inside the car, Fuutarou was sitting between Nino and Miku, with the butterfly ribbons quint leaning again her head on his shoulder.
Jealous, Miku did the same despite it made her blush. "Hehe, Miku likes clinging on Uesugi-San too!", said a giggling Yotsuba while Nino pouted and hugged the boy's arm, who blushed because of her action.
"But it looks like he prefers Nino's affections. Are we sure she's just a friend for you?"
"Give me a break, Ichika.", he replied, sighing while the oldest quint giggled. Itsuki frowned, wishing to sit next to him too to cling on him again like she did in their classroom. Ebata simply smiled at seeing the nice interaction between the 6 students.
Once the group reached the giant apartment complex, the 6 students got down from the car and greeted Ebata befoe entering inside the building. Just like at school, Nino held hands with Fuutarou while going towards the elevator, smiling and blushing while going up.
Itsuki took advantage of the situation to lean her head on his other shoulder instead, giggling. "I want to cling on Uesugi-San too!", exclaimed Yotsuba, leaning her head on the boy's chest while he sighed.
'Considering you're all my friends, I guess it's ok if you cling on me this much.', he thought, smiling. He also intertwined his fingers with Nino's, making the social butterfly blush more.
When they reached the right floor and entered inside the quints' apartment, the butterfly ribbons sister sat next to him again while doing her assignment, clinging on him like before. She also smiled at him when he corrected her work, praising her for how well she did on it. He praised her sisters too, but he was more affectionate with Nino.
If the young girl was tormented by the darkness of her past, Fuutarou's presence was able to get rid of that darkness like he was the light of her life. His kind heart…His comforting warmth…His will to protect her…All of those elements combined made Nino very glad to have made friends with him, even if the boy acted like he was in love with her.
When he threatened the idiot that bothered her, he was like a boyfriend that didn't trust other guys that approached his girlfriend. But a thing was certain; Fuutarou was the one that would make her forget all the horrible memories of her past by replacing with beautiful ones that include him and her sisters.
And perhaps the school camp of the incoming week would be the first of them, considering also the possibility that she and Fuutarou would dance together at the bonfire. She wasn't sure if he wanted to dance with her, but in the case he decided to invite her, she would gladly accept and dance with him under a beautiful sky full of stars, hugging each other lovingly.