"Yep, that's right! Quints!"

I stared back at Yotsuba in a daze. Then, I shook my head slightly.

"Alright. You're quintuplets. Can you do something for me, quickly?"

"Hmm?"

"Furrow your brows like you're really angry."

"Like this?"

Yotsuba furrowed her eyebrows and turned the corners of her lips downwards. With her expression like that, her resemblance to a certain ill-tempered volleyball demon was unmistakeable. They had the exact same face, even if their hair was of differing lengths.

"Wow, it's actually true. You're seriously sisters."

"Of course it's true, Uesugi-san! Did you think I was lying to you?!"

"No, no. I just wanted to make sure." I turned and put my hand on the door to the classroom. "Well, I should get back to class."

I then paused for a moment, remembering something.

"Thanks, by the way. For walking me back."

That'll keep her from stalking me for the rest of the day.

Yotsuba beamed at me.

"You're welcome!"

I slid the door open, the other hand still holding the ice pack to my head. As I stepped into the back of the classroom, my classmates turned to look at me. In particular, I saw Nakano Itsuki turn to look at me from her spot in the back row -- and then past me, to where Yotsuba was still standing in the hall. Her eyes narrowed, and I saw her mouth something. I wasn't sure, but I thought it was the word "Why?".

Ignoring her, I walked to my spot two rows in front and one to the right of her, facing from the front of the room. The teacher nodded to me. "I'm glad to see you've recovered enough to rejoin us, Uesugi-kun. I was just talking about the use of the Pythagorean theorem in the derivation of the main trigonometric identity..."

As the teacher kept talking, I found it hard to concentrate. Despite the ice pack, my head was throbbing quite a bit. Luckily, I'd already reviewed everything in this module, so I knew what the teacher was talking about -- but a model student must always be paying attention. Every opportunity for reinforcement was vital.

Before I knew it the period was over, and I lowered my head against the desk, letting my eyes rest a bit. I needed to be able to focus. I needed to be able to focus. I--

"Uesugi."

I looked up to find Nakano Itsuki standing next to my desk.

"It's my fault that you had to miss the start of the class. I'll share my notes with you this one time."

I perked up a bit. "Huh, really? That's nice of you, thank you!"

She handed me her open notebook, and I pulled out a pencil to copy it over... and then looked up at her with a blank stare on my face.

"Nakano-san... this... is literally all wrong."

Her eyes widened and her face immediately turned a bright red.

"W-What?! You jerk! My notes are fine! There's absolutely nothing wrong with them at all!"

"No, look here. You've got sine and cosine reversed on this graph -- cosine is the x-axis, and sine is the y-axis. Also, while you used Pythagoras's theorem, you input one, cosine, and sine into the wrong parts of the equation, and so the equation you got out isn't valid... which is a bit impressive, actually, since the equation would have still been right if you had just continued on correctly after the first mistake."

Her face as red as a roasted tomato, Itsuki snatched her notes back.

"Nevermind! This is what I get for trying to be nice!"

As she pulled the notes away, one of the pages sliced into my finger, drawing blood. I gave a yelp as a small bead of ruby red blood welled up on my pointer finger. Itsuki turned back around, saw the blood, and immediately a queasy look came over her face.

"S...Sorry, Uesugi. I'm... gonna go back to my seat now."

She then sat back down at her seat, with a look that was really hard to read on her face. Not that most looks were easy for me to read, per se, but some were harder than others. I got up, and walked to the front of the class, where the teacher was in the midst of packing up his things.

"Sensei, have you got a bandage? I got a paper cut."

The teacher rummaged through his bag, and pulled out an adhesive bandage to give to me. I left the room briefly to go to the washroom, wash my hand off, and then put the bandage on. When I returned to the room, Itsuki was pointedly not looking at me.

Ugh. Every single thing I do seems to piss this girl off. And every single thing she does is pissing me off. I don't think we'll ever see eye-to-eye.

By the end of the day, I was exhausted. Nevertheless, I forced myself to make my way to the school library to study. After all, there were only so many precious hours in the day, and our cramped apartment wasn't exactly prime studying real estate.

As I settled down to work, I got an email from my sister, Raiha.

"Curry for dinner, huh?" I pondered aloud. "That's the sibling bond for you. My favourite food after a rough, rough day."

I dove into my studying. making sure I understood every concept from the class thoroughly. In particular, I spent about ten minutes figuring out what I had probably missed in the mathematics class based on my prior knowledge of the course material, and the notes I'd previously seen from Nakano Itsuki. Suddenly, I heard the door to the library open and close, and voices filtered into my sweet siloed studying space.

"...But as much as I hate to admit it, he was right. My understanding of it is not enough. I'll get better though -- with my own hard work. Not with the tutor, and certainly not with his help!"

"My, my, Itsuki-chan. You're certainly fired up about this. Could it be that you..."

"Ahhh, no! Definitely not! Why would you even say that?!"

My heart sank as laughter rang out through the library. It was Itsuki and what sounded like the sweater monster. Following suit to my heart, I lowered my head down to the table, my eyes within centimetres of the pages below me. Let me study in peace, please. Don't notice me.

Their voices seemed to move over towards the reference section.

"Alas, true. Perhaps it's too early for our sweet Itsuki-chan to experience love. What a shame!"

"Hey! I'll have you know I had lunch with a boy yesterday!"

Hearing this, my entire face went deadpan. That is barely, barely, technically true. Don't make it out to be what it's not.

"Ohhh? Do tell, do tell!"

"You were mean, so I'm not going to," I heard Itsuki puff. "Besides, he's a jerk. Ah, there's the book I was after."

There was the sound of papers being shuffled around, and then a laugh from the sweater monster... Ichika, I think her name was?

"Trigonometry for dummies? That's what you wanted?"

"Don't laugh! I was so embarrassed today, I wanted to die. I do not want to let something like that happen again."

"Right, right. ...Ah, geez, I need to get to my job. Let's go, Itsuki-chan."

And with that, the duo walked out of the shelves and directly into the study area where I had parked myself with my books and notes. Immediately, Itsuki stopped dead in her tracks, a completely blank look crossing her face. Ichika walked into her back, making her stumble forward a bit.

"Eh? Itsuki, what are you--"

Itsuki's eyes made direct contact with mine, and her blank stare, if possible, became even more blank, like a dead fish engaged in a staring competition. Then...

"Did you hear?"

"Um..."

"I said, did you hear?"

Sweating bullets, I glanced away. "Hear what? I have no idea what you're talking about."

Slowly, red filled Itsuki's face. "This is the third time I've embarrassed myself in front of you today. Please don't ever talk to me again."

With that, she immediately ran out of the room, her yellow reference book clutched to her chest. From the aisle walked Ichika, amusement glittering in her eyes. The sweater monster walked over to my table and sat down, her head tilted to the side and resting on one hand.

"Wow, you really did a number on Itsuki-chan. I don't think I've ever seen her blush that hard. What on earth did you do?"

I glared at her. "I didn't do anything. All the things that happened today were self-inflicted wounds -- or rather, she inflicted them on me. Literally, I had to go to the nurse's office today because of her."

"Hmmm, so I heard -- where you had our little Yotsuba nurse you back to health, eh?" Ichika gave me a wink. "For a nerd, you sure are a player!"

I rolled my eyes. "Right. Sure."

Ichika's eyes softened a little. "I'm sure Itsuki feels terrible about the fact she hurt you. Especially since it was by accident. That girl just has a lot of trouble being honest."

I looked her dead in the eyes. "Mind your own business. I thought I told you already -- my relationships are my own business."

"Hmmm? So cold. But what about your relationship with me, Fuutarou-kun?"

"Wait, what? I--"

Ichika leaned back and laughed. "I'm kidding. You're an interesting one, though. I'm looking forward to seeing where your relationship with my sisters goes."

She then glanced at her phone, stood up, and started heading towards the door. "I'm going to be late to my job. See you later, Fuutarou-kun!"

With that the door to the library opened and closed again, and the room was finally silent. I took a deep breath, and then turned back to my studies. Right, the geometric interpretation of the arctangent function...

The next day, during the morning periods, I could feel a gaze on the back of my neck, burning a hole through my spine. Whenever I turned to look, I would see Nakano Itsuki look away from me pointedly. By the time lunchtime rolled around, I was decidedly irritated with the whole situation, and so as soon as the teacher let out the class, I grabbed my bag and immediately exited the classroom.

After getting my lunch I sat down at a table in the corner of the cafeteria, my bag in my lap, ready to pull out my notes and study.

"Uesugi-san? Is it alright if I eat with you?"

I looked up from my bag to find Yotsuba standing over the table with her tray of food. It certainly had more than mine, but significantly less than her sister's had had the previous day. My initial reaction was to refuse, but... something stopped me.

"Sure, do what you like. I'm planning to study though."

"That's fine, that's fine!"

With that, Yotsuba sat down at my table, and I had a lunch companion.

"How's your head, Uesugi-san? I remember getting hit in the face with a ball during gym class back at our old school -- man that hurt!"

I rubbed the back of my head. The swelling had mostly gone down, but it was still tender.

"Mostly fine. I'll live... probably."

"Eh? Probably? You gotta be more confident in your vitality, Uesugi-san!"

"I'll definitely live."

"Good!" Yotsuba beamed. "By the way, I got a real grilling from Itsuki after school yesterday. She wanted to know why I was hanging out with you after you got back from the nurse's office. She seemed really bothered about it!"

"Hmm. Was that before or after she told me to never talk to her again?"

"Itsuki didn't mention that to me, but... probably after? It was at home. Unless you snuck into her room last night after we talked. Uesugi-san, you dog!"

"Obviously I didn't do that," I sighed.

Yotsuba laughed. "I'm just kidding. She did seem pretty upset though. Hopefully she makes up with you at some point."

"That girl seems to be in a state of perpetual anger at me. I don't plan to apologize every single time she does something to upset herself. She embarrassed herself."

Yotsuba sighed a very deep sigh. "Yeah, that's fair. I still hope you two make up at some point."

I gave a non-committal shrug, and began eating my food. Yotsuba began digging into hers as well, but with the conversation temporarily halted by the consumption of sustenance, I was suddenly able to hear the whispers of the surrounding tables. Uesugi is sitting with a girl again? Why is she sitting with that loser? Ugh, gross.

I picked out one of the offenders as being a group of girls at a table about two over from me. I made direct eye contact with the one that I was pretty sure made the comment, and arranged my face into the closest approximate to a death glare that I could manage -- which was pretty good, if I were to say so myself. The girl in question let out a yeep, and then turned back towards her group.

"Jerks," I muttered to myself.

"Hmm?" Yostuba said, her mouth full of karaage.

"Nothing," I said. "Just some imbeciles at some of the other tables who like to run their mouths too much."

Yotsuba swallowed. "Ah, gotcha. But Uesugi-san, you don't let them bother you right? "

"I'm a human, I have feelings. Of course it's going to get to me sometimes."

"Cheer up! I think you're interesting to talk to! So that's one imbecile's opinion to help start to counter their opinions!"

Despite myself, I smiled slightly.

"Thanks. You definitely are an idiot though -- I've never seen anyone get a zero on a test before."

Yotsuba laughed sheepishly. "Well, I am what I am."

"Did you not study?"

"Well, somewhat. Maybe. A bit. Not at all, no."

I sighed. "Well, that would do it. If it's not multiple choice, you have no chance if you don't study -- and if it is multiple choice, you'll just average somewhere in the 20s, which is a failing grade."

My lunch companion sighed. "You're right..."

Then, she perked up. "Will you study with me, Uesugi-san?"

Again, my initial reaction was to refuse her, just as I had her sister the day before last. But once again, something inside me just... refused to refuse. What's going on with me?

"Sure, that's fine. They say teaching is the best way to learn. Just make sure it doesn't interfere with my own studying, ok?"

This is a terrible idea.

"Yes, of course!"

Yotsuba seemed oddly cheery as she finished her food. I finished up my (limited) lunch as well, and packed up my things.

"Shall we meet after school then?" I ventured.

"Huh? Oh, sure! I haven't joined any clubs yet, so I'm free. Where would you recommend, my good sir?"

I mentally raised an eyebrow. "The library is my usual spot. Let's meet there about fifteen minutes after classes end for the day?"

Yotsuba gave a salute. "Roger that, Uesugi-sensei! Ah, I should let my sisters know I can't walk home with them today."

I'm going to regret this so much.

The afternoon passed by with relatively little incident, save for Itsuki continuing to glare at the back of my head. If anything, it almost felt like her ice-cold death stare was stronger than before. As the day drew to a close, I picked up my bag, and set forth for the library. While I claimed one of the tables near the back and splayed out my stuff, I heard the door open and close. Then, a big green bow popped around one of the bookshelves.

"There you are, Uesugi-san!"

Yotsuba sat down across from me, and pulled a notebook, a small novel, and a worksheet out of her bag.

"I'm going to be working on Japanese language arts. How about you?"

I glanced across my spread-out workspace like a king surveying his kingdom. "I think it'll be world history today."

"Oooh, fancy!"

I opened my notebook and got to studying. However, every five or ten minutes, Yotsuba would interrupt me with some question about Japanese grammar and literature. Her reading responses and her analyses of the assigned text weren't bad, per se -- but severely unpolished.

A gem in the rough?

After about thirty minutes of this, I sighed, put aside my world history textbook (I wasn't particularly interested in the downfall of the Seleucid empire, to be frank), and drew closer my language arts book.

"Switching back and forth like this is going to ruin my work flow. I'll switch to language arts as well."

"Ah... sorry, Uesugi-san..."

Her bow wilted as she said this, and I felt a pang of regret.

"No, no, it's not your fault. It just doesn't make much sense for us to study together and not study the same thing."

Yotsuba perked up at that.

"Ah, ok. Sure!"

She then leaned over the table to look at my notebook.

"What's your class reading, Uesugi-san?"

I held the book up so that she could see the cover.

"Juhyou no Kisu?"

"It's a modern re-imagination of the Yuki-onna legend. It's very beautiful, but it goes a little overboard with the imagery at times. Nevertheless, I'm quite enjoying it, insofar as I can enjoy an assigned reading for school."

"Ah, I see! So it's a love story!"

I froze a little bit.

"Yes, it is."

"Hmm, I see, I see! So, what sort of questions did you need to answer?"

"The usual sort -- how did the character feel? What was intended by the imagery invoked in the scene? Those types of questions."

Yotsuba cupped her chin in her hand like she was some sort of detective.

"And tell me, Uesugi-san, what were your answers to those questions?"

I suddenly felt a spark of discomfort.

"...Hang on. You weren't assigned the same reading, were you?"

Yotsuba laughed. "That would be cheating! I wouldn't do that." She flexed her bicep and put her hand on it. "Gotta achieve results with my own power, right?"

I sighed. I was suspicious over nothing. That was pretty rude of me, I guess.

"Sorry about that, Naka-- hmmm."

"Hmmm?"

"Since Nakano Itsuki's in my class, it would be confusing to call you Nakano-san. I'm just going to call you Yotsuba."

Her face reddened slightly.

"Oh, ok."

There was a pause, and then Yotsuba seemed to decide to just plow on ahead.

"Anyways, Uesugi-san -- my class was assigned a modern re-imagining of Urashima Tarou. So far, I don't like it very much, though I haven't read the whole thing. The fact he left his mother and father behind to go to the palace of the dragon king really bothers me. I haven't finished it yet, but of course I know the fairy tale. Something about leaving your family behind and trying to strike out on your own, only to turn around and find that they're not there anymore... it really makes me uncomfortable. I hope they changed the ending in this version..."

"I see. Did you express that discomfort in your answers?"

Yotsuba looked down at her written responses. "Now that you mention it... nope! Guess I didn't think of it! Hehehe..."

I sighed. "Write that down then, you idiot. That's gold for a literary response."

The two of us continued working together for about another hour or so, taking occasional short breaks to discuss what we were reading. After about an hour and a half of total study time, I got a text from Raiha telling me that dinner would be around six o'clock. I stretched, and then began packing up.

"Alright, we should probably call it there for today. I need to head home for dinner."

"Ah, wow, the time sure passed quickly! I haven't studied that long in a really long time."

"Yeah, that's the problem, Yotsuba."

"Well, I'll be in your care! Thanks for helping me study. Let's meet up again tomorrow!"

"That's fine," I said, zipping up my bag. "I come here every day to study. Though come to think of it, I probably need to pick up a job soon."

We left the library together and made our way to the footlockers by the front door. After we both changed our shoes, Yotsuba and I parted ways to head home. As I walked through the streets, I felt a strange smile on my face, which I'm sure looked horrendously creepy.

That was... surprisingly fun.

----

"Juhyou no Kisu" = 樹氷のキス = Hoarfrost Kiss. Not a real book, as far as I know.