Trying to get back into the groove of things, hope it lasts...

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"Haha" Raiha giggled. "You guys looked so silly running into the school together!"

Currently you sat on a bench in the school playground rubbing your head where Nino dealt some serious damage previously. She'd caught you as you entered the school gates to collect Raiha. As nice as getting a warm hug from Raiha was, it barely balanced out the throbbing pain you felt on the back of your skull.

"Y/N Onii-chan? what did you do to make Nino Onee-chan angry?"

Nino crouched down to be level with Raiha. "Y/N Onii-chan was being an idiot" Nino told her.

"Nino Onee-chan is just a bully Raiha." you retorted which earned you a scary look from your girlfriend.

Raiha looked between you both. "Please don't fight!" she exclaimed.

You pat her head. "Don't worry sport, we don't fight do we babe?"

"I can't believe you got a girlfriend" Raiha said happily. "I'm so happy for you!"

Nino smiled at you. "Thank you Raiha, he has his problems but he's pretty great"

"Hey! what do you mean by problems?" you frowned. "The only problem I have is being the more attractive one in the relationship" you brushed a hand through your hair.

Nino fixed her gaze onto you and raised a fist "Do you want another one?"

"No ma'am" you conceded.

"So why did both of you come today?" Raiha asked.

"Ah, well your brother got caught up in a meeting with a teacher so he asked me to come pick you up and Nino tagged along."

"That's right" Nino confirmed.

"She came along because she can't bare 10 minutes without me" you unnecessarily added.

Raiha gasped. "Y/N onii-chan don't be so mean!" she hit you on the leg.

"I'm really getting abused today huh" you groaned. "Well c'mon girls, let's head home"

All three of you leave the school grounds, Raiha walked between the two of you, holding each of your hands. Oddly this felt really familial. Maybe one day this would be your actual kid between you and Nino, you look at her and she looks back at you and smiles, for some reason your heart skips a beat like it was the first time you met her.

"What?" she smiled at you.

You glance down at Raiha then back to Nino. "Later" you smile to her.

"Idiot..." she laughs.

Raiha looked up puzzled at you both but then she had a spark of an idea.

"Y/N onii-chan!"

"Yeah sport? what is it?"

"We learned about volcanos in school today!" the excitement

"Volcanos huh? You think I'd survive lava babe?" you turn to Nino who looked at you like you were an idiot.

"Hopefully not." she scoffed.

"Bully..." you say extremely quietly under your breath.

The three of you continued to walk all the way to Fuutaro's house, laughing and chatting along the way. "What's my brother like when he tutors you all?" Raiha suddenly looked up at Nino.

"Oh... he's um... well..." Nino was scrambling for a way to not cuss out her older brother right in front of her.

"He's.... thorough"

"Thur-row?" Raiha tilted her head.

"It means he dosen't go easy on us" you tell her. "He is a good teacher though, there's no second guessing that"

"As much as I hate to admit it, he is pretty good, but you're still better" Nino devilishly smirked at you.

"Thanks babe" you couldn't help but smile, "But yeah Raiha, your brother is putting us all through the wringer, the end of year exams are approaching soon and then we're all in third year, if we all pass." You not so subtly look at Nino.

"W-Well, who's fault is that if I fail huh?" she scoffed.

"Definitely yours..."

Raiha laughed at the conversation, she was clearly happy that her brother had found a place to belong with others.

"Um..." Raiha suddenly spoke up.

"What's the matter sport?"

"Can we... stay out for a little longer, I want to spend more time with you!" she smiled and you felt your heart burst into a million pieces, she was so adorable it hurt.

Nino looks over at you and smiles reassuringly, seeming to have some extra time on her hands. "Alright sport, you've got it. There's a park not too far from here, how about we go there?"

"Yay! Raiha let go of Nino's hand and rushed to hug your side. She stayed there for a second but then let go of your hand too and ran over to hug Nino, who looked bewildered which got a good laugh out of you.

Some time later then three of you arrived at a small park on top of a hill overlooking the city, there was a set of swings, a seesaw.... and that was pretty much it, save for a bench and a trash can.

Raiha immediately ran for one of the swings, almost ripping off both of yours and Nino's arms in the process as she let go of you both.

"How are her and her brother even related?" Nino pondered aloud as she watched Raiha run to the swings. "She's a ball of sunshine and her brother....." She looks at you, obviously wanting to say some not-so-nice words about Fuutaro but after telling her she needs to try and get along better with him, she seems to be more thoughtful of what opinions she voices about him. "Is... well... him."

"Nice save" you rolled your eyes, "but I get what you mean, but the same could be said about you and your sisters" you smile as you begin to walk towards the swings.

"Wha-!" Nino gasped, catching up to you.

"Am I wrong? Which other sister was a cold and rude Tsundere when I met them, you and Yotsuba for example are like aliens that belong to completely different planets."

Nino folded her arms and scoffed. "Raiha! let's swing!" Her tune changed on on a dime, as she approached Raiha and pushed her on the swing, building some momentum for her. When Raiha was finally in motion, Nino sat herself on the swing next to Raiha and looked at you with a blank stare like she was expecting something.

You sigh to yourself and walk over to Nino who is donning a more cheeky expression now. "You're lucky I love you" you mutter as you grab the chains of the swing.

"I know I am" she smiled which made you laugh, you pulled back and let Nino get her momentum as she began to swing.

The two of them seemed to be satisfied just swinging endlessly as the looked out over the city ever time they rose up high, the cold air had you rubbing your hands and putting them in your pockets over and over.

Thinking of the weather at the moment had you excited for summer, it was still a good few months away, but you could just imagine you, Fuutaro and the Quintuplets going to the beach or something.... man that would be a sight to see, just imagine all of the bo-

"Hey Y/N!" you heard Nino shout which snapped you out of your daydream. "Let's get going, we don't want Raiha to get back too late" She pointed behind her as Raiha jumped off of the swing and ran over to Nino.

Burying those impure thoughts of yours to the back of your mind, you joined the two girls and the three of you left the park and started to head back to the Uesugi household.

After a good walk, you all arrived and you gently knocked on the door.

Fuutaro emerged.

"Oh!" he said as he saw the three of you.

Raiha immediately ran into his arms. "Onii-chan! they played with me so much today, it was a lot of fun!" her smile could actually kill someone it was that cute.

"Hey." Nino spoke up. "We have a study session tomorrow right?" she asked Fuutaro.

"Yeah and the days after" Fuutaro replied. "We're in crunch time so we have to pack everything in"

You groaned on instinct and so did Nino.

"Don't be like that..." Fuutaro tried to reason with the two of you. "I'll be over tommorow so make sure everyone is there. Okay?" he said that last 'okay' in a slightly more strict tone.

"Yeah, we'll be there, I'm doing half the tutoring anyway so I might as well play Quintuplet wrangler while I'm at it" you laughed.

"Good" Fuutaro smiled. Both him and Raiha waved you and Nino goodbye as you walked off.

"Hey, so you wanna come over for a little while?" Nino put her hands behind her back and leaned forward in that cutesy way when she wanted you to answer a question with 'yes'

"Sure, you got anything in mind or are we just going to eat Apples in the kitchen?"

"Idiot.... we can watch a movie in my room..... or the living room..."

"Is that red I see on your cheeks?"

"S-Shut up!"

"You've been holding back in front of Raiha this whole time haven't you?"

"Urgh, stop talking to me with rhetorical questions! You know how my mind works too well" she pouts as she speeds up her walking, making slight distance ahead of you.

The feeling in your chest was a stupid happiness, like a kid going to Legoland, things just felt great in this very moment. Putting aside the final exams and the existence of Maruo as part of the puzzle, just having these moments with your girlfriend was what you really enjoyed, the downtime.

You jogged back up to her as the sun began to set, the sky being painted a warm orange as street lights began to flicker on and the streets became less crowded the more you walked.

"By the way...." Nino began

"What?"

"Earlier when we were walking with Raiha, you told me later" she flicked her head back to look at you. "What was going through your mind?" she smirked.

"Well..."

"Spill it"

"I Just thought that... y'know..."

Nino stopped in front of you and pressed herself against you, and put her hands on your cheeks, staring into your eyes. Assertive behaviour from her was nice to see.

"Tell me. Dar~ling!"

With no way out... "I just thought that with us two holding Raiha on either side it could be like... our own kid in the future... or something. I don't know it's stupid".

Nino's face got slightly red. "Oh? You're that eager to...."

"Chill out" you stop her in her tracks. "Save it for when we're 18" you squeeze her sides, causing her to let go of your face and jump back.

"Ah~" she let out a gasp and took a step back. "No fun..."

"I'm responsible, that's all."

"Speaking of... when actually is your birthday?" Nino asked. "You've never said"

"Oh. it's soon, March 5th."

"March 5th? But that's like just before the exams!"

"We can celebrate afterwards, there's no rush"

"But... I want to celebrate it with you.." Nino frowned.

"Then maybe we'll do something"

"Really?"

"Yeah, if it's just us two it shouldn't be too bad of a distraction"

Nino smiled to herself, seeming satisfied. "Wait, your birthday is exactly 2 months before ours, that's strange"

"Huh. Cool, also please don't stress over a gift, I'm not too big on presents"

"Don't say something like that Idiot!" Nino snapped. "I'm sure everyone will probably get you something once they find out your birthday is coming up anyway"

The two of you kept walking through the streets and finally arrived outside the pentagon.

"So what movie?"

"Huh?"

"What movie are we going to watch? I was thinking something Dragon Ball"

"Dragon Ball?" Nino deadpanned.

"Yeah! why not"

"We're watching romance"

"Says who?"

"Says me" Nino got up in your face, and kissed you deeply, leaving you with your thoughts swimming as she sauntered inside the Pentagon.

"That woman is way too dangerous" you laugh to yourself as you follow her inside.

The two of you spend the next few hours together, snuggled up on the sofa watching a romance movie that Nino had picked out. The only other quint home was Itsuki who decided to hole herself up in her room.

The next day came and everyone gathered to study, surprising everyone was pretty energetic about it so you and Fuutaro both had high hopes about this. There were about 2 weeks to go until exams so tensions were starting to get higher and higher.

Over the course of the next week, every single day everyone got together to study, some days were better than others but if you plotted the productivity of the sessions on a graph, it would definitely be on a decline, the motivation was still present but the girls studying stamina was drained. It's not really their fault either, both Fuutaro and yourself had been quite no-nonsense about things, obviously breaks and the like were happening but it seemed that there needed to be something more, but you drew a blank on what could be done or how to convince Fuutaro.

Yotsuba slammed down her pen and flopped backwards onto the sofa, letting out a groan of exhaustion.

"I feel that" you said to no one in particular. Your eyes made way towards the large clock on the wall. 9:30pm.

Nino sat next to you on the floor, and weakly leaned her head against your shoulder and looked up at you, it seemed she was out of it for the day too.

"Outta gas?"

"Mmhmm" Nino quietly replied.

"I think we should call it there for today. We've done a lot... thank god I don't have work tommorow"

"I still need to visit the coffee shop" Ichika realised. "Are you working the day after tommorow? Maybe big sis will come and visit you."

"Sure, It'd be nice to have everyone there one day but maybe that can wait till after these exams"

"You seem more stressed than usual Y/N" Miku pointed out.

"Yeah she's right." Itsuki nodded. "Is there something bothering you?"

"Maybe it's just nerves from this being the final thing... of this year anyway. I don't even want to start thinking about third year"

The collective heads of the 5 sisters all looked down at once thinking about third year.

"Well regardless, I think we have a good shot of getting everyone to pass this year, right Fuutaro?"

Fuutaro remained silent as he packed up his bag.

"Hey! Uesugi!" Nino sat up from your shoulder and shouted at him. "Do you not have any faith in us.

"No. I do. I have faith in myself and Y/N teaching you what you need to know, and I have faith in your capability to learn from us and each other"

"Woah... kinda heartfelt" Yotsuba gasped.

Everyone looked at Fuutaro in astonishment and he awkwardly cleared his throat.

Ichika let out a loud yawn as she stretched out and stood up, the 7 of you all talked for a little while before you and Fuutaro were to head off.

"Alright babe. It's probably time I get going" you kissed Nino's head as she grabbed onto your arm.

"I'll walk out with you" she pouted, seemingly not considering letting go of you.

Miku snickered quietly behind you and you shot her a disapproving look. "In that case, let's get going. Thank you all for the hospitality of always" you said to the girls.

"Your sudden moments of formality never cease to amaze me" Miku rolled her eyes.

"And your growing wittiness seems to stem from hanging out with me too much, maybe you need to hang out with Fuutaro more, it would help in more ways than one" you teased her, Nino quietly giggled along and Miku pouted at the two of you.

"Alright, later girls!" You waved to the rest of them as you threw your bag over your shoulder preparing to make your way home.

"Oh! By the way, Tomorrow... let's take a day off" Fuutaro suddenly told the group.

The girls all looked at each other in confusion, they even looked at you for an answer but you were as clueless as they were.

"Well... we've been working hard as of late so I figured.... one day off couldn't be so bad" He continued, hearing the words 'day off' come out of his mouth and have it be followed through was an unreal moment.

"Fuutaro, YOU are talking about a day off?"

"Is it that surprising?" he deadpanned.

"YES!" Everyone else responded in unison, his shoulders visibly drooped.

"So do you have something in mind for us to do?" Itsuki asked him

"We." he looked around the room. "Are going to an Amusement Park!"

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3 months is crazy.

You guys know how inconsistent I am by now and I apologise every time so I'm not gonna do it again, I kind of just fell out of love with writing for a few months. Today some kind of spark just hit me so I decided to finish this chapter that had been sitting on like 900 words since April.

I'm fine by the way I'm not dead (obviously) things have just been happening, like my birthday a few weeks ago, I almost got into a relationship but I got outta there, weird stuff overall lmao.

Hope you guys have been well, maybe summer will motivate me to write a bit more, but no promises. And for future reference unless I explicitly say so, this story is never cancelled, always assume at some point I'll come back to it unless I state otherwise :)

Regardless, have a good rest of your day everyone!