After going through the manga chapters to figure out what to put here, I decided I would do through with my original plan. With that original plan, I am skipping quite a bit of manga chapters for the quints and instead subbing it with moments that took place in the Horimiya manga and have been adapted for this story.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter anyway, despite me skipping some major plot points. But my reasoning for doing this is that I felt like I couldn't really put Y/N in anywhere unless it was some whole original scenario and those are a pain in the ass to develop anyway. So my compromise is to sub it in with something that makes sense since Y/N is basically Izumi Miyamura. So this is what I thought to put in instead.

Again, these were decisions I decided to make, but I do hope you all enjoy the chapter.

---

Fuutarou sighed as he sat upon a hospital bed, mostly tired and exhausted. He stared aimlessly at the TV in front of him, which was running a program at the moment. 

"Sorry, you're dead last today!~" The TV program announced. "Here's Aries' horoscope!"

Displayed on the TV was like a scratch card of sorts. It displayed results, the title "Aries" being displayed at the top with what looked like a sheep sticker next to it. The results shown were "Love," with thirty points next to it, "Health" with negative one hundred points next to it, and "Wealth" with five hundred points next to it.

This only seemed to bring down his self-esteem even more, causing Fuutarou to deadpan at the TV.

"Your luck will improve by meeting up with friends! But since the cold is going around, please take the necessary precautions!"

Fuutarou lets out another deep sigh. "I can't argue... About my luck being dead last."

The scratch card on the TV had basically reflected the events of the field trip. It appeared that he did receive "love" during the field trip (he wasn't exactly sure, but did see four of the quints in his room when he was still sick), and his health had detoriated quite a bit while he was over there. He was running rampant with a fever, which he had mostly likely caught from Raiha at the time before he left.

And don't even get him started on his financial state. It wasn't look pretty, yes, but with his job tutoring the Nakano siblings, things would be looking up for him and his family.

--: Chapter 16| Sick Day :--

"And thus, my school trip came to an end."

"...Eh?"

Itsuki Nakano stared at the yellow-eyed teen with a dumbfounded look. A few days had passed since they had arrived back from the field trip and Fuutarou was still admitted into the hospital.

Apparently, on this particular day, the Nakano siblings had went to get their vaccines, with Y/N tagging along to visit Fuutarou himself. However, Itsuki and Nino had separated themselves from said group due to their fear of needles, so the rest of the Nakano siblings and Y/N were currently on the hunt for the two. Unknown to them, Itsuki had gone to see the Uesugi teen himself to find out why he studies so much.

And Fuutarou had begun telling her a story. A story of where he met a girl five years ago on a school trip in Kyoto. However...

"What the heck was that!?" She screamed, eager to hear more. "Just when it was getting to the part I wanted to know, the story ended in a mess! What happened to the earth afterwards!?"

Fuutarou simply coughed. "I never said I was going to tell you. And I don't even want to talk about it. I only humored your little request a little as thanks for the other day."

She was a bit surprised by his answer, but she was thankful nonetheless, nodding her head gratefully. Though the reason Fuutarou actually thanked her was because he had actually witnessed that moment between her and Y/N. Normally, he was against those "kinds" of relationships, but when looking at those two and seeing how happy they were... Something had changed him deep down. The yellow-eyed boy hid his smirk as he turned his head the other way as he leaned back down on his pillow.

Itsuki smiled softly at him.

"This hasn't exactly been well conveyed, but... I can tell there is a large difference between the past 'you' and the current 'you.' You changed after meeting that girl, didn't you?" She nodded slightly, "I'd like you for you to help me do so. Because you are necessary to us."

Fuutarou's eyes had widened. The words she had said to him were reminding him of a particular sentence the girl from five years ago had told him.

He shot up and looked her, making Itsuki look shy as she began to look away.

"Please don't look this way," she said.

"You think you can pull that off by me teaching you? Miss 'Average of 29.6 points'?" He retorted.

"I will manage somehow! If it is anything within my power, I will do it! Look!" She began to rustle around into her skirt pocket before she pulled something out. "I even brought out my old charm!"

Fuutarou sweat dropped. "You're pleading to the gods?"

But upon getting a closer look at the charm, Fuutarou squinted his eyes. Again, his eyes widened as he remembered the distant memories from five years ago. The same girl he met that day in Kyoto had bought the same charm, five in fact. 

He leaned closer, "Where... Did you buy that?"

"Oh, this?" Itsuki tilted her head in a thinking position, "I don't quite remember if I bought it or I was given it... I believe it was Kyoto, five years ago."

The two were silent. For quite a bit. Fuutarou was next to break the silence.

"So that means..."

Before his sentence could be continued, the sliding door was suddenly opened. The two jumped in surprise as they looked, seeing it was the rest of the Nakano siblings and Y/N.

"Ah! Itsuki!" Yotsuba beamed her usual smile. "So that's where you were! Good thing you found them, L/N-san!"

Y/N nervously laughed. "It took a while, but I did."

"Looks like we didn't need to look all over the place," Ichika said with a soft smile. "We just needed our very own Itsuki finder and it just so happens to be Y/N-kun here.~"

"E-Eh...!? Me!?" Y/N pointed at himself.

"Now that we have everyone, we can finally go," Miku said, looking to Nino.

Nino looked away in a sheepish manner. "Nngh..." With a small huff, the girl with butterfly accessories walked in and yanked Itsuki away, dragging her away. "Itsuki! I've resigned myself and I'm taking you with me!"

"P-Please wait!" Itsuki screamed. She was fearful of needles.

Y/N flashes her a thumbs up, "Don't worry, Nakano-san! You'll do great!"

"That doesn't help me in any capacity, L/N-kun!"

They let out a collective laugh while Y/N followed them, smiling before he soon frowned. He actually arrived a few minutes before the other Nakano siblings had arrived. But he didn't call them after he had found Itsuki.

Because... He had heard everything. The entire conversation Fuutarou was having with said girl.

Y/N had heard of Fuutarou's past before, the boy having mentioned it to him briefly. But now hearing the whole story, he understands why he studies so hard. Sure, some brief talks between he and him about why he studied so much was to get graduate from the school, go to a good university and graduate from there so he can get a well paying job so he can use it to bring their family out of their financial status. But after hearing such a story, Y/N now knows why. A girl he met five years ago on a Kyoto trip had changed his life, believing in him. It seemed nice for Fuutarou to be motivated by that, is what Y/N thought.

But that wasn't the reason why he frowned. From the story he had just heard from behind the door, he had learned that one of the Nakano siblings was the very same girl that Fuutarou had met five years ago. As indicated that Itsuki does carry the same charm that Fuutarou had spoken about in the story. For some odd reason, Y/N felt relieved that it couldn't be Itsuki and be one of her sisters. But now thinking about it... The thought of Itsuki ending up with his friend... He didn't like it. Just the thought of it only made his heart twinge in slight pain, like something was taking a jab at it with a knife or something like that. No, he didn't like it. Not one bit.

He then lifted his hand, staring at it. '...Nakano-san... It has to be a coincidence... Right...?'

 ---

The days had passed and things weren't looking up for the tutor. Now out of the hospital as he began to feel better, he instantly began going back to school and began to tutor the quintuplets and Y/N again. The growth rate of the quints and Y/N were rather slow and stagnating a little, he thought calmly about this. They would just barely make it if nothing bad happens.

But that was the key word. That's if nothing bad happens.

And... Something bad did happen. 

As they were trying to study for the final exams, an argument had broken out. Of course, Nino was still quite hostile toward Fuutarou, saying he was just a hired tutor, an outsider, someone that didn't belong in the household in the first place. And as always, Miku tried defending him, especially about how Fuutarou had created a packet of papers that contained many problems that would be on the final exam or problems similar to them. And the argument escalated from there, ending with Itsuki slapping the girl with butterfly accessories, causing the two of them to essentially split the household. With the current relationship strained between the two, Fuutarou found it difficult to try and attempt to tutor the rest of them, hell, even try to tutor the other two. Not only that, Itsuki and Nino ended up vanishing from their home and went elsewhere, with Nino staying at another hotel and Itsuki nowhere to be found. However, eventually, he found out that Itsuki had gone to his home and was staying there for the time being.

But it was a time like this, he wasn't sure what to do. He tried going to where Nino was in order to get her back, but was ended up being thrown out by the security placed at her hotel. That was a bust, essentially. He tried getting Itsuki to apologize to her sister and that was a bust as well. There was really only one person he could turn to maybe convince Itsuki.

And there was one problem there too.

"Morning, homeroom's in session!~" Fuutarou's, Y/N's, and Itsuki's homeroom teacher exclaims cheerfully. "L/N-kun's out with a cold today."

That's right. Y/N was out with a cold.

---

Class was soon ending and Fuutarou was packing up his things. He then perked up, looking to Itsuki and heading over to her desk. She looked at him confused.

"Itsuki. I'm gonna check up on Y/N on my way home. Wanna come?"

"E-Eh?" 'M-Me!? Go to L-L/N-kun's house!?' She thought with a huge blush. She then cleared her throat, "Good idea... Sure, I'll go."

Fuutarou was quite surprised that she accepted the invitation. From the way she said it, it sounded like she was quite reluctant. Well, considering how close they were, he was kind of not surprised that she would tag along with him when it was concerning with Y/N.

She then looked at him weirdly. "I'm kind of surprised though. Didn't really expect that to come from you."

"Yeah..." Fuutarou responded, albeit annoyed slightly. He soon calmed down and took out his phone. "Well... I texted Y/N before, and he said he was 'fine,' but... I guess you could say I don't trust him."

'When do you ever?' Itsuki deadpanned.

One of Itsuki's unnamed friends come over. "Oooh. What's up? What're we talking about?"

"Oh. Want to come with? We're checking in on Y/N."

"Can't. I got practice today!" Itsuki sighed in relief, knowing that she didn't want anyone else to know of Y/N's 'secret side' supposedly. The unnamed girl then hummed, "Oh, but still... L/N-kun's out, huh..."

Itsuki began to tune out of the conversation. 'Well, it'd be too weird for too many of us go, anyway... And he doesn't even know what happened... Probably best not to tell him... L/N-kun... I wonder if he's being good and sleeping...'

Yeah, that wasn't the case at all.

After school, Itsuki follows Fuutarou back to Y/N's place. Now that she thought about it, this is the first time she'll see where the L/N teen actually lives. So far, she knows that he comes over to Fuutarou's place sometimes, but mostly comes over to hers. And quite frankly, she was a bit nervous to see what kind of place to see Y/N lived in. But she didn't really hold any high expectations.

And as expected, when they arrived, she sees that Y/N lived in a fairly nice apartment building. Going to one of the upper floors, they exited the elevator and stopped in front of door, with the nameplate "L/N" next to it. As soon as they rung the doorbell, the door was sluggishly opened by a sick Y/N, a goofy grin on his face as snot drooled down his nose.

"I'b so sorry... You went out of your way to come see be and eberything," Y/N said, his nose clogged, some of his words sounding different. By now, they moved to his room.

Taking a look around it, it was a normal room. His bed was up against the wall with a self and stand at the foot of it, his desk and trash can opposite of his bed. His desk contained books, pencils, and other utensils that were used for work and school, a small desk lamp on top to use for when he's doing homework at night. A small coffee table was in the middle of the room and a few pillows on the floor to use to kneel on.

However, they weren't concerned about his room. They looked at him with tense expressions.

"But I habe dothing to offer you..." Y/N covers his nose to sniff up his snot.

"Just lie down!" Fuutarou yells at his friend. "Sick people don't have to entertain!"

"But if I sleep... By dose stuffs up, and I can't breade..." He then began to cough.

'Aaarggh!'

'For the love of...' Itsuki deadpanned. She soon shook her head and looked at him concerned. "Did you go to the hospital?"

"Do... I took medicine," he sniffles again.

"Got a fever?" Fuutarou asks.

"I habe!~ No feber at all!~"

He wasn't convincing them. In fact, Itsuki pushes him down onto the bed and shoves him in his covers. The Uesugi teen then came over and took his temperature.

"102.5° F. Dude." He deadpanned at his friend.

"Aaaaahhhh! By dose! By dose's clogging uuubbb--!"

Itsuki only bonks him up on the head, forcing him to shut up as she continued to shove him under the covers. Soon after, the two were kneeling at his bedside, Y/N digging his nose into his pillow as snot began to cover a small area.

"Where's your family?" The girl with star pins asks.

"They went to the shop," Y/N said, his nose stuffed, of course. He sniffles again, "I'll be fine on by own...!"

She deadpans again. "If we leave, you're gonna get up, aren't you?" She hears him cough, turning his head to lazily look at them. She then sighed, "Geez... Uesugi-kun? Get him some of that water, would you?"

"Got it."

Itsuki was about to turn around and grab tissues and other things for him until she felt something grab her sleeve. Y/N did, grabbing it and tugging on it a little. He then muttered something. He was muttering the names of her sisters, causing her to freeze.

She awkwardly looks away. "I-It's fine. They're all together as usual."

He seemed to satisfied with that answer. She then stood up and went for the door.

"You're sick," she simply says. "Worry about yourself. I'll make you some rice porridge, so I'll be borrowing your kitchen. Uesugi-kun, you're in charge here."

"Yep...!"

She then leaves, the door letting out a distinct shut. Facing Y/N again, he kneels at his bedside as he then begins to watch him closely... Maybe a little too much.

Y/N then begins to cough and began to rise up. "I really can't. It's stuffing ub--"

"If you get up, I'm never speaking to you again," Fuutarou immediately says. Y/N recedes. "That's right. Good boy."

"Uesugi-san, that's do fair...~" He whined, coughing in the process.

"Itsuki put me on guard duty," he bluntly says. "...But seriously, Itsuki making rice porridge, huh...? Itsuki cooking and stuff... I can't really see it..." He's really only seen Nino do the cooking.

Y/N has seen Itsuki cook before. While she wasn't as good as her sister, Nino, she could still cook up a decent meal. A small image of Itsuki wearing an apron flashed in the L/N teen's mind, to which he soon smiled softly at. Fuutarou notices it and looks at Y/N confused.

"That's not true. Nakano-san's really good at cooking... Oh, but..."

He then began to trail off, only slight murmuring being said. This causes Fuutarou to lean closer and hear what Y/N is trying to tell him.

"H-Huh? What're you talking abou--Y/N?" Y/N fell asleep. "Wake up, Y/N! What!? What were you trying to say!?"

He sounded desperate.

The door bursts open, Itsuki carrying a tray with a small bowl on it. "Shut up! Don't wake him up!" A visible tick mark was on her head.

Again, she soon calmed down after screaming at Fuutarou for a good while.

"The porridge is getting a little cold... When L/N-kun wakes up, we'll have to warm it up for him."

Fuutarou was silent for a bit. "I've been wondering for a while now..."

"Huh?"

"What exactly are you and Y/N?"

She was genuinely confused. "What do you mean, 'What are we'?"

"I'm scared to ask, but... What? Are you friends...?"

"O-Of course we're friends!" She told him, stuttering a little. "If we were going out, I wouldn't have come to visit him with you, would I?"

"Huh... O-Oh, yeah... R-Right..." 'Is that all...? Really...?' 

He was skeptical by the answer she had given. Since that whole bonfire dance thing, and by what he had witnessed, he could have sworn that there was something going on between them. And yet, Itsuki denied it, saying that they were still friends. Fuutarou didn't believe it, not one bit. He still thinks that there is something going between them.

As he was about to ask another question, he jumped. From behind, Y/N had reached over and grabbed his shoulder, doing unintentionally unsuspectingly, scaring the shit out of the poor boy.

"Uesugi-san, grab be some tiiiisssuuuueeessss!~"

"Oh, he's awake," Itsuki nonchalantly stated.

Fuutarou only screamed in surprise as he was scared the shit out of by such an action. Y/N began to sit up as he rubbed his eyes. Itsuki also got up, her hands moving to the tray with the bowl on it containing his rice porridge.

"L/N-kun, do you want some rice porridge?" She asked, tilting her head. "I'll have to go warm it up."

"Yeah..."

Fuutarou checks for tissues, finding a box. "Oh. You're out of tissues."

"Eeeehhh...!? What'll I do? Uesugi-san, let me borrow your shirt!" Y/N reached over to grab his friend.

"Why, you!" Fuutarou begins to swat his hand away. "What're you trying to blow your nose on!? Stooop!"

'If he's got that much energy, he'll be fine,' Itsuki thought as she exited the room to heat up the porridge.

Y/N slumped in his spot. "You two might catch this..."

"Don't worry about th--!" Fuutarou paused, now thinking deeply. 'If I caught a cold that got out of hand... Itsuki might take care of me! Better yet, Raiha...!'

The thought of Itsuki feeding him, or more so Raiha, only excited him. He was a doting and caring big brother... All though... He seemed to forget that he literally had a cold just days ago.

Fuutarou began to scoot closer to Y/N, "I wonder if we have more tissues stocked up some... Whoa, close! Uesugi-san, you're too close!"

"Yeah, don't worry about it," he responded nonchalantly.

Itsuki began to enter the room. "One porridge, coming right up... Yikes! You're too close! You're creepin' me out!"

"It's not 'cos we wanna be."

---

"I can't... Really taste it," Y/N says, sucking the rice porridge off his spoon.

"Of course not," Itsuki replied. "Your throat's sore too, isn't it? When you finish that, make sure you take this medicine."

"Yep, yep."

"You're sweat, aren't you? Did you change? You haven't taken a bath, have you?" She kept nagging at Y/N like he was a child.

Itsuki sighed as she turned to Y/N's room, tending to a few cords that were lying around and messy. She began to tie them up and organize them, while Y/N and Fuutarou stared at her.

"...Huh. I didn't realize, but Itsuki is good at taking care of people..." Fuutarou murmured.

"Yeah, she is," Y/N said with a nod, agreeing.

The yellow-eyed teen looked to his friend, who was blowing on his food as he ate it carefully. He simply sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. There was obviously something going on between them, he knows it. And honestly, there are times he wasn't sure what to feel about it. Beforehand, he's stated that romantic relationships are a waste of time, and yet it seems like that's what being sprouted between Itsuki and his friend. He feels that he should reprimand them for such things, and yet, at the same time, he also feels that he should be supportive.

It was like he was caught in a crossroad of a decision.

Soon enough, Itsuki had grabbed her bag and was making her way over to the front door. She then turned her head around, calling out to the two boys in the room. Y/N was also now in his bed, having finished his rice porridge and taken the medicine he was instructed to.

"Okay, I'm going on ahead first... L/N-kun, be good and sleep," she said, chiding him like she was his mother. "And don't you stay too long, Uesugi-kun."

"Yep, thank you, Nakano-san," Y/N said, his voice all cheery and what not.

"Later," Fuutarou casually calls out.

The door shuts behind her as she exited. Fuutarou then looks to Y/N, who was looking at the yellow-eyed teen with some sort of beaming expression. It was almost creepy looking.

"Did you stay awake just to take care of me, Uesugi-san...!? Friends are a wonderful thing...!"

"Oohh, uh, no... I just sorta..." Fuutarou sighed as he decided he was just going to be frank and straightforward. "Y/N... Is there anyone you like?"

Y/N stares at him dumbfounded. "...Huh?" 'Is he gonna confess...!?'

"Dude, if you thought, 'Is he gonna confess?' for a second, I will punch  you," Fuutarou stated blankly, deadpanning at him.

Y/N processed the question before he laughed. He then laid his head down on his pillow, looking at his friend with a tired look as a tired smile formed on his face.

"I don't really have anyone I like, Uesugi-san." Fuutarou narrowed his eyes, knowing Y/N was lying. "Why do you ask?"

The yellow-eyed teen looked to the side. "Well... I guess it's because... Well, about Itsuki. If you ask me... I'd say you're on her mind. Don't you think?"

Y/N perked, staring at Fuutarou with wide eyes and in disbelief. "Nooo way! I mean, what would she want with miserable four-eyes me?"

"You're saying all that about yourself?" Fuutarou sighs again, "But even in class, everyone's saying that you're more chipper lately. I think it's probably because you talk to us though."

"F-F-For real!? I don't wanna stick out!" He shoots up out of his bed.

"Just give it up already and let it all hang out! The tattoos and stuff, I mean!"

"N-No...! I want to stay borin--!" He was interrupted by his coughs.

Fuutarou merely sweat drops. "Okay, okay. Don't push yourself." 'I should've expected this, but he's such a weirdo.'

Soon enough, Fuutarou had enough of staying in Y/N's home. He stood up and went to go put on his shoes, only for Y/N to see him out. He had even giving him a consolation prize, essentially. A cake.

He tried to deny such a thing, but Y/N only shook his head. He had apparently said it was a thank you and also a little something for Raiha. Reluctantly, Fuutarou took it, but only took it because of how much he cared of his younger sister. And Raiha always did like the cakes Y/N made for her.

"Okay, I'm going home too... Sorry for getting you all worked up and then making a run for it," Fuutarou apologized, referring to the question he had asked him. "And I even got cake..."

"Not at all! Besides, I said you can take it for Raiha-chan, anyway. And also, just having you stop by made me feel better. Thanks!"

"Your nose might clog up, but make sure you sleep," he advised. "And then hurry and come back to school, Y/N."

Y/N stayed silent before he smiled. "...Yeah."

Elsewhere, Itsuki had returned to the Uesugi household and had gotten right away to work on her homework. Although, she kept pondering about what happened today.

"I swear, catching a cold... He must have gotten it from Uesugi-kun," she muttered. 'I thought the saying goes that idiots don't catch colds.' She soon sneezed. "...That was just a coincidence."

---

Late at night, the door to the L/N family apartment began to open. The keys jingled as they turned in the lock, a black-haired woman entering in.

"Y/N? Did someone come by today?" The woman asked, opening the door to check his room.

"Huh...?" Y/N slurred, his eyes fluttering awake.

"There was a cake in the fridge, and now it's gone!" Y/N's mother replied.

"Oohh... Friends..."

"Friends?" She laughed a bit. "Now there's a word I thought I'd never hear you say. You haven't had a friend over since elementary school."

He thought about it for a bit. Friends.

Y/N then nuzzles his face into his pillow as a small smile crept to his face. Images of Fuutarou and everyone else had flashed into his mind. Especially the image of Itsuki. Just seeing her face, especially when she smiled, was enough for him to smile.

"Yeah... Guess so."