The Quintessential Quintuplets, Eternal Hearts

Chapter Thirty-One, I'll Turn The Page

-Rokuro-

              Futaro still hadn't managed to guess the Itsuki's and Rokuro wasn't any closer to figuring out what was bothering the girls, he wanted to help, but between the coaching Miku was giving him, and trying to figure out his feelings on his own, there wasn't much he could do. He was walking down the hall that same night when Ichika came running up to him.

"Kazu-kun! Nino is going to try to kiss Futaro-kun, you have to stop her!" She said urgently, at first he was confused, then realized she must think he loved Nino with how he reacted in Revival.

"I'll handle it Ichika-nee." He said sternly, turning around and running off, as soon as he turned the corner he stopped, leaning against the wall and thinking.

"Nino-tya wants to kiss Futaro..that definitely angers me.." He muttered, clenching his fists, he then had an idea and tried to picture Itsuki and Ichika wanting to kiss Futaro, it angered him to the same point, he didn't want it to happen. He stood there for a moment, thinking about them.

"Who do I love the most..?" He asked himself. He had to have stood there for at least ten minutes before the girl's father walked past.

"Rokuro-kun, are you aware that Nino has snuck out?" He asked flatly, Rokuro was in no mood to be lectured by a dad that wasn't his and scoffed.

"Yea I've known for a while now, but it's my job to keep them safe, not keep them from having fun. If you feel she should come back in, that seems like something her father should reprimand her for, not her friend." He said harshly, Maruo stared at him with a hint of anger in his eyes, his eye twitching.

"You are a very prideful boy don't you think? You'll be hit with the harsh reality that you cannot talk back to your employers as you hit adulthood." Maruo said sternly.

"I've had multiple jobs up until now, this is no difference except for the fact that my client is a stuck up man who sees it fit to dump his daughters off on two other people. Me to protect them, and Futaro to teach them, and unfortunately for you, we're the best bets you have. There's no one who can overpower me as I am now, it would take an imperial army to take me down, and Futaro has shown that a fellow classmate teaching the girls bears better results than some run-of-the-mill tutor. Now go get your daughter, you wouldn't want her to catch a cold." Rokuro retorted with a smug smirk on his face. Maruo let the smallest scowl show on his face and walked off, Rokuro smiled to himself and turned around to walk away until he bumped into someone, he looked down and saw Itsuki looking up at him in awe.

"Something the matter, Itsuki-tan?" He asked.

"You've stood up to our father not once...but twice. Color me impressed, Rokuro-kun." She said with a smile, he blushed a bit and smiled back.

"All I did was mouth off at him, nothing serious." He replied, he heard footsteps behind him and turned, Nino was walking in from the direction that Maruo had left in with her head down, as if she was thinking hard.

"Nino-tya?" He said curiously, she perked up and looked up at him, as if she had just noticed his presence.

"Kazuhiro-kun, and Itsuki too? What are you doing?" She replied, walking up to them.

"We were talking about your dad, what about you? I had heard you were gonna go talk to Futaro." He replied, her face flushed red and she scowled.

"Ichika told you didn't she!?" She demanded.

"Not at all, I can hear almost everything in this inn, it's not hard to hear you when you and Ichika-nee are being loud about it. So why didn't you go see him?" He asked curiously, Nino's expression suddenly shifted, it changed from her normal annoyed face to a face of nervousness and embarrassment.