--: Chapter 1| First Meeting :--

"Yakiniku set. Without the yakiniku," a black-haired boy says.

"Ah, could I have the same as well? With the yakiniku, of course," a boy with glasses next to him responds as well.

The other students behind the two look at them weirdly, specifically the one that requested the yakiniku set without the meat in it. After a bit, the lunch lady granted them their food and they two grabbed their trays and walked off.

These two boys were named Uesegi Fuutarou and Y/N L/N. One student was known as the top student in the entire school while the other was kind of a dumbass.

As the two walked around through their school's canteen, they could hear the murmurings of the other students.

"Uesugi-kun and L/N-kun are alone, huh?"

"No way.~"

"Hmph. These people don't know how wonderful it is to be alone. Right, Y/N?"

"I-I suppose so," the boy next to Fuutarou meekly responds.

"Well, not like those fools have anything to do with my life. Everything's going to be alright!"

Fuutarou chuckled to himself as the two went on their merry way to find a table. Finding their usual spot, both Fuutarou and Y/N place their trays down, only for a third tray to show up.

The two were puzzled as to who this tray belonged to, so they looked up. They soon find that the tray belonged to a red-haired girl with blue eyes, a distinct feature of a star pin in her hair. Fuutarou's eyes then wandered to her clothing.

'Who? It's not our school uniform... Oh, well.' Fuutarou thought.

Minding his own business, Fuutarou began to pull out the chair to the table so he could sit down. He only stopped because the red-haired girl had spoke up.

"U-Um! I got here first, that seat is empty, so could you two please move over there?" The girl says.

"We've always sat on this exact spot every day, if anyone's moving, it's you," Fuutarou retaliates.

The girl only grew angrier. "That has nothing to do with this. First come, first serve."

"Now, now, let's calm down," Y/N says, trying to diffuse the situation. "Hey, Uesugi-san, come on, let's sit over there. Okay?"

"See? Even your friend agrees with me. Now, move along," the girl quickly follows up. '...Eh? When did he get here?'

Fuutarou looks at Y/N with an annoyed look. "I'm not giving up this seat. I'll sit on it first! It's my seat now!"

"Wai--"

Before the girl could even utter another word out to protest, Fuutarou sat down in the chair with a triumphant grin. The girl only growled with annoyance as she took the seat in front of Fuutarou and sat down, making Fuutarou look at her in surprise.

With a sigh, Y/N pulled up a chair to sit in between the two, putting his hands together as he bowed his head slightly.

'This girl...' Fuutarou thought.

"Itadakimasu," Y/N says to himself, quietly.

As the glasses wearing teen ate quietly, the other students looked in their direction. Because of the commotion they were causing earlier, it was drawing attention towards them. The other students look in surprise.

"Uesugi-kun and L/N-kun are eating with a girl..." One student says.

"N-No way..."

Fuutarou gritted his teeth quietly whilst also clicking his tongue. "Dammit... Those guys..."

"Try to ignore them..."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Y/N lets out a sheepish smile towards the black-haired teen next to him before he looked to the red-haired girl. She seemed to be nervous, the girl awkwardly shaking in her seat. 

'Seriously, don't push yourself...' Fuutarou thought.

The girl cleared her throat. "Do as you like."

The two boys looked down onto the girl's tray. Fuutarou gulped, noticing the dishes as they were things he wouldn't be able to afford.

An udon that cost 250 yen, two shrimp toppings that's 300 yen total, and squid, kashiwa, and sweet potato that costs 100 yen each. With a 180 yen pudding as a dessert. Yes, this was something Fuutarou wouldn't be able to afford.

"A lunch costing more than 1,000 yen, are you a celeb or something?"

"Um, you shouldn't assume things, Uesugi-san," Y/N says.

"He's right. It's bad manners, you know," the girl says, agreeing with Y/N.

Fuutarou let out a small "hmph" as then began to eat his yakiniku set, without the yakiniku. While doing so, he pulls out a paper and some flash cards at the same time, making the red-haired girl raise her eyebrows, while also displaying her angered look from before. Fuutarou notices her gaze and furrows his brow slightly.

"What?" Fuutarou asked, "I'm just honoring Ninomiya Kinjirou, who studied working, why are you mad at me?"

"That's totally different!"

"I'm reviewing the test, stop bothering me," Fuutarou insists. 

"Studying while in the middle of lunch is kinda..."

"Oh, don't worry," Y/N says with a small wave. "He does this all the time."

"It could help you if you do it as well, dumbass," Fuutarou says with a deadpan expression. 'Like, seriously. You have one of the, if not, the most lowest grade in class.'

Y/N only rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he gave a sheepish smile towards his friend. Fuutarou sighed with annoyance while the red-haired girl looked at Fuutarou slightly impressed.

"You're aiming to become someone great, huh." The red-haired girl then stood up and snatches the paper out of Fuutarou's hands. "What's your score?"

"Ah, oi! Don't look."

"Uesugi Fuutarou-kun..." The girl says with a hum. "Your score is... A 100!?"

"Oh my god, I'm like so embarrassed!" Fuutarou exclaims, feigning embarrassment.

The girl only pouted at him. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you mean," Fuutarou says with a grin.

The girl grumbled, "I hate to admit it, but I'm jealous that you're so good at studying." She paused for a moment before she lit up with an idea in her head. "That's right! I've just thought of something good. We're seating partners now, right? Please, teach me."

"Thanks for the food," Fuutarou says, putting his hands together.

He then stood up and grabbed his tray and utensils, going to head off. The girl looked at him in disbelief while Y/N finished up the rest and gave her an apologetic bow before he followed suit.

"Huuuh!? You eat fast... Are you just fine with that? Want me to share some for you?"

"I'm full," Fuutarou responds, sending the notion that he wants to leave. "Rather, you ordered too much, you know. You'll get fat."

"Fat..." The girl muttered.

Ignoring all that was happening, Fuutarou pulled out his phone as he received a notification. It was from his sister, asking whether he was eating alone or with Y/N. 

"This is the first time I've met someone as insensitive as you. I'm not going to give you anything," the girl says with a haughty tone. 

"Excuse me, Nakano-san."

"Hmm?"

The girl turned around at the mention of her last name. There Y/N stood, her wallet in his hand as he extended his arm out to her.

"Here, you dropped this."

"H-Huh? Oh... Thank you..." Itsuki thanks, taking the wallet from his hand. 

Y/N simply nodded and walked away. The red-haired girl stared at him for a little while, wondering why he would just walk away like that. She never even got to thank him.

---

After lunch, both Fuutarou and Y/N went to their next class in the day. Y/N sat in his usual seat, in the back near the window, tuning out of the conversations of his classmates and the lectures and announcements of his teacher. 

The current thought on Fuutarou's mind was the phone call he had received from Raiha, his younger sister. Apparently, his father had scored him a part-time job as a tutor to a rich family's daughter. Apparently, she was failing. As he thought about this, the teacher announced that they were having a transfer student. 

"Looks like there's a transfer student this afternoon. Ahh... Was it Nakano-san?"

Fuutarou instantly perks up at the mention of the name. He looked to the front of the room and he held back a gasp, gulping down his spit. 

"My name is Nakano Itsuki. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Soon, the classroom had erupted into all kinds of chatter. The boys were mainly discussing whether Itsuki was most likely rich or not, and how she was cute. But the most talked thing was the uniform she wore, it being identified as the Kurobara Girls High School uniform. 

That's when it clicked in Fuutarou's head. He was going to be this girl's tutor. And he recalled how he was to her in the lunchroom earlier. The teacher had instructed her of to where she was to be seated, which was near the back somewhere. As she made her way down the aisle, Fuutarou waved and put on a friendly smile, to which she instantly ignored.

As expected. He should've figured that would happen. 

But, as Itsuki made her way down the aisle, she noticed one person in the corner, staring out the window. It was the same boy that had handed her back her wallet. However, he made no eye contact whatsoever. It was like he was lost. Lost in his own world. 

After school, it was currently the evening. Itsuki could be seen walking down the street with four other girls that looked like her, each of them having a different hair color. As they continued to walk and talk, some of them even laughing, a black-haired teen could be seen walking past them.

He wore a stripped shirt with a light jacket over it, black pants with a brown belt. His hair had was tied up into a ponytail, some of his bangs framing his face a bit. On his face was a lip ring and chain, along with various other piercings on his ear.

As he goes past him, Itsuki couldn't help but look behind her, catching the boy in the corner of her eye before he disappeared from view. All she could tell was... He felt familiar, like she had just seen him somewhere else today. 

---

A few days had passed since the initial meeting between the three. Every time Itsuki would walk into the classroom after lunch, there was one thing she would notice. 

Aside from Fuutarou's constant bickering to try and fix things, and the fact that the other students were trying to talk to her or talk among themselves, Y/N was always by himself. No one even bothered to approach him, or just try talking to him. He just sat there in his seat, minding his own business or just sitting there...not doing anything. 

There were usually people that are like this, but not much. Eventually, those people were bound to find some friends maybe after a few weeks throughout the school year, but she had just transferred in. She found it quite surprising that some other person hadn't tried talking to him.

"Hey, Nakano-san," a female student speaks up. "Why're staring intently at L/N-kun?"

"Oh... Nothing important. I'm just wondering... Why is he always alone?"

"Hmm... Well, he seems like the person that's hard to approach or keep up a conversation. Besides, he always seems, like, really dark. He's like an otaku... Or something."

"'Moeeee'?" Itsuki wondered.

"Yeah, just like that! Don't you think so too, Nakano-san?"

Itsuki made a quick glance over to Y/N. She simply shook her head, seeing that there was no way she could see him like that. 

---

It was already the end of the day and Itsuki was in her apartment. In the room were three other girls that looked just like her. One had light pink hair, the other having a darker tone in pink, and the other having brown hair. They all had dark blue eyes like her.

These were Itsuki's identical sisters, Ichika, Nino, and Miku. However, there was one more that was missing. 

"Ichika, has Yotsuba called yet?" Nino piped up.

"No, she hasn't. I haven't seen her since after school, telling us she had something to do."

"I see." Nino turns to her other sisters, "Did you two see her, or did she call you two yet?"

The other two simply shook their heads, making Nino shake her own head while she sighed. Yotsuba was an energetic and easygoing girl, but out of all of them, she was the one that was the most absent-minded.

Just as they were about to call her, they heard the door being opened. They turned around to greet their sister, only for them to scream. Their sister had short orange hair with a green ribbon on her head. 

However, the reason why they screamed was because her nose was bleeding, along with a few scrapes on her knees. While they were all worried, Yotsuba didn't seem to be too bothered by it. 

"Hey, guys," Yotsuba cheerfully calls out.

"Yotsuba, what in the world happened to you!?" Nino yells.

"Where were you, we were worried sick," Ichika pipes up next. 

Yotsuba gives a goofy smile. "I fell down."

The girls all run over to their sister and began to tend to her. Nino was wiping the blood off her nose, Itsuki coming in with some bandages. Miku and Ichika were too busy asking her questions that they failed to notice the boy next to Yotsuba.

"Excuse me..." The girls turn to him. "She seems fine, so I guess I'll head out."

'Crap, we completely ignored him!' The girls thought.

"Um, thank you so much for your help--" Itsuki spoke before she was cut off.

"Don't worry about it. See you," the boy nonchalantly says.

"Hey, why don't you stay a while?" Yotsuba suggests.

Her sisters looked at her as if she was crazy.

The black-haired teen scratched his cheek. "Eh? But..."

"No, um, it's fine! Come in!" Itsuki finally says, the other three sisters look at her like she was crazy as well. "Anyway, we'd like to thank you. Please!"

Reluctantly, the boy agreed. He came in and Itsuki led him to the dining room, where he was seated down. Nino had brewed tea, but she kept giving the boy a suspicious look, making Y/N sweat in his seat a little bit.

The other three sisters watched from the living room, huddled behind the couch as they cautiously watched the interaction.

"Sorry about this..." The boy apologizes.

"No, it's okay!" Itsuki denies his apology. 'He has a lot of piercings...'

"I think she jumped slightly when a dog had abruptly jumped out of nowhere, causing her to trip. That's how I ran into her."

"Ah, so that explains the nosebleed," Itsuki says with a sweat drop. "Sorry to cause you all this trouble!"

The boy smiled. "Yotsuba-san seems to be a very cheerful girl despite what happened. She had no problem telling me her name and address."

"Oh, no, not at all... Really, she's really kind of absent-minded..."

"Still, it's pretty impressive that you're able to run this whole house with your sisters. I'm surprised, Nakano-san."

"No, really--"

Itsuki then paused herself. She hadn't met this boy before and yet he easily knew her last name. She quickly stood up, slamming her hands on the table with a surprised and shocked look.

"Wh-!?"

"Hmm?" The boy titled his head. "You are Nakano-san from Class 2-1, right?"

"Y-Yes, that's me, but... Uh. Do you go to our school...? My class, even?" Itsuki was very much confused.

"Eh? What are you talking about? I'm in the same class as you. I'm L/N."

"...Eh? Eh?? Eeeeeeehhhhhh!?!?!?" Itsuki screams in disbelief.

---

And that was the start of my Gotoubun no Hanayome book.

I hope you guys enjoyed this as I had to rewrite this chapter a lot, thinking of what kind of plot. If you guys have read a certain manga, then you may recognize some things, particularly near the end of this chapter as I altered the events from that manga so it could fit this story.

Anyway, this is the start of my new book after my Saki one. Instead of doing the anime, I'm more along the lines going off of the manga instead. Anyway, I hope you'll give this story a read and continue it as I add more chapters to it.

Thanks for reading it, people.

-okami