Quintessential Shadows: Quintessential Quintuplets x Male Reader

Chapter 2: A New Student

The bell rang, signaling the start of lunch, and Y/n stretched his arms with a loud sigh. His stomach grumbled, reminding him of his unfortunate morning-oversleeping had cost him his usual breakfast, and now, he was starving.

Y/n: "Oh man, I'm so hungry I could eat everything on the menu."

Futarou, his best friend, shot him an unimpressed look.

Futarou: "Oh, come on, Y/n, shut up. It isn't funny."

Y/n: "Okay, okay."

As they made their way to the cafeteria, Futarou, as usual, ordered the same meal.

Futarou: "Barbecue beef... without the beef."

Y/n watched as the cafeteria lady placed a lonely portion of rice and sauce onto Futarou's tray. He sighed internally.

(I know his family is in debt, but doesn't he get sick of eating the same thing every day?)

When it was his turn, Y/n smiled at the other cafeteria lady.

Y/n: "Chicken tempura and rice, please."

The scent of freshly cooked tempura filled his nose, making his stomach growl again. Once their meals were ready, they walked toward their usual table near the window, only to overhear a few students gossiping nearby.

Student 1: "Look, L/n-kun and Uesugi-kun are eating alone again."

Student 2: "Man, how did L/n manage to fall so low in life?"

Student 3: "Yeah, L/n is so handsome. Why does he always eat with that nerd, Uesugi?"

Y/n ignored the comments, and so did Futarou. They were used to it. However, when they reached their usual table, they encountered an unexpected problem. A girl with long, reddish-orange hair was already sitting there, looking through her food tray with an annoyed expression.

She glanced up at them, unimpressed.

???: "I got here first. The next table is available, so you can go there."

Futarou, however, was not going to have it.

Futarou: "This is where Y/n and I sit every day. You should be the one to move."

Y/n sighed.

Y/n: "Futarou, we can just move to another table, you know."

Futarou: "No. This is our table, and we're not leaving."

The girl frowned, standing her ground.

???: "I already told you, I got here first. Haven't you heard of 'first come, first served'? You should listen to your friend and just move."

Y/n, trying to de-escalate the situation, turned toward the other table-only to see it was already taken.

Y/n: "Great. Look what you've done, Futarou. We could've just moved, but no, you had to be smart about it, and now there's no place left."

Futarou sighed in defeat, while Y/n simply grabbed a chair from another table and sat beside Futarou.

More whispers filled the cafeteria.

Student 1: "Look, L/n-kun and Uesugi-kun are eating with a girl!"

Student 2: "She's probably here for L/n-kun because he's so handsome."

The girl, hearing these comments, blushed slightly but quickly shook it off, pretending not to care. Meanwhile, Futarou observed her food tray, and his eyes widened in shock.

She had ordered udon, two shrimp tempura, one squid tempura, one chicken tempura, one yam tempura, and a pudding-totaling 1030 yen.

Futarou (in mind): "1030 yen just for lunch?! What is she, filthy rich?"