Itsuki Nakano was the first to wake up among her siblings. Getting in the bath and taking a shower to get ready for the day, she went back to her room and put on her school uniform. Afterwards, she descended down the stairs and entered the living room of their apartment, heading into the kitchen to grab a small breakfast.

She ate by herself at the dining table, her head turned towards the window. Itsuki then looked to her phone's clock. The time showed around 7:00 AM. She had waken up a bit more earlier than usual.

'I've been waking up more earlier than usual... Now my sleep schedule is all messed up. I guess I'll kill some time here," Itsuki thought, the red-haired girl continuing to eat her breakfast, which was some cereal.

As she ate her food, her eyes begin to slowly close and open. When she closed them one last time, she opened them, Itsuki choking on her food as her older sister, Ichika had suddenly appeared right in front of her.

The pink-haired girl had a closed-eyed smile while she rested her head onto her hands, her elbows propped up onto the table.

"I-Ichika!?"

"Hey," Ichika cheerfully greets. "You seem to be up earlier than usual."

"Y-Yeah. I'm not sure why," Itsuki says with an awkward giggle.

The two were then silent.

Ichika then turned her head to the window next to them. "...Say. L/N-kun is pretty cool, isn't he?"

"Eh... Really?" Itsuki rose an eyebrow.

Up until now, Itsuki saw Y/N as a very shy person, and one who overreacts way too much. Plus, he's kind of an idiot. Ichika resumed her attention to her younger sister.

"I have to ask, Itsuki. Is L/N-kun your boyfriend?"

Itsuki abruptly slammed her hands on the table, standing up. "N-No! That's not..."

"So that's not how it is..." Ichika hummed. "I thought for sure you were though... Then, is it okay that I take him?"

"...Ha...? Take... Him?"

"You're not going out, right? So if L/N-kun and I get along, it doesn't matter to you, right?"

Itsuki began to shuffle in her seat. "...Th-That's, well."

"Right? Then I'm going to take L/N-kun!" Ichika says with a smile.

A flash occurred in Itsuki's mind. Just the thought of her older sister and Y/N talking to each other, and getting along greatly really well bothered her. Bothered her to a high degree, in fact. For some reason, she just couldn't seem to accept that if it ever happened.

"You can't," Itsuki says, glaring at her sister. "You can't. I won't give him to you."

'Oh? Interesting... Then...' "Eh... But you and L/N-kun are just friends, right?"

"I won't give L/N-kun to you," Itsuki declared.

Ichika crossed her arms. "I will take him."

"I told you, I won't give him to you."

"But L/N-kun isn't your boyfriend, right? So he's not yours to--"

"L/N-kun is... L/N-kun is..." Itsuki muttered to herself before she stood up and yelled. "L/N-kun is mine! I won't give him to you! Never! I won't give him to you, you hear that!"

"What are you guys arguing about this early in the morning?" An annoyed voice lets out.

The two sisters turn their heads to the stairs, seeing Nino, Miku, and Yotsuba standing there. While Miku and Yotsuba were confused, Nino was just annoyed. Itsuki cleared her throat as he grabbed her things and made her way to the door.

"N-Nothing," she quickly says. 'Stupid... L/N-kun belong to anybody... Right?'

The other sisters watched as Itsuki made her way out of the door and out into the hall. Once she was out of view, Nino looked to her older sister, who only kept a close-eyed smile.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing.~ Just a bit of teasing."

"Okay...?" Nino was skeptical.

--: Chapter 7| Confessions... Sort Of :--

"Yo!" Ichika calls out to two familiar boys. "Good morning!~"

Y/N smiled. "Hey, Ichika-san."

Fuutarou gave a blank stare, walking past him. "Hi."

"Huh? You don't have anything to say about my winter uniform?"

"What's up with you this early in the morning?" Fuutarou questioned.

"Even though we're close to school here, I still wanted to walk with you guys there. Oh! Before I forget, here's a latte, L/N-kun. Itsuki told me what you liked."

The boy with glasses gratefully took the cup and took a sip. He soon let out a satisfied sigh as he felt like he was in heaven. While the pink-haired girl walked alongside the two, Fuutarou let out an annoyed groan.

"Ichika, you're going to make people look at us as well, and we don't like it at all..."

"Eh? People are looking at us?" Y/N was getting a bit nervous.

Ichika only giggled. "Really? Yesterday, after I told everyone about my job. They were so surpised!"

"Definitely," both boys say.

"But I feel refreshed now!" She flashed a quick smile at them.

Fuutarou smiled himself before he returned it to his neutral expression. "I'm still not changing my objections about it."

"That's fine. I'll try to study enough so that I won't have to repeat the class. After school, you'll hold a study group, right? Guess I'll call you then!" She then went into her purse's pocket, pulling out her phone. "Here."

Fuutarou looked at quizzically. "Huh? What's this? For me?"

Ichika pouted. "It means, let's exchange email addresses!"

"Oh, that's a good idea," Y/N inputs.

"Since you're our tutor, we should have each other's contact info."

"...Email addresses," Fuutarou says to himself.

---

In the library.

"Exchange email addresses! I completely agree!" Yotsuba yells, standing up from her seat. Then she quickly sat back down. "Before that, just let me finish this test!"

Anyway, in the library, Fuutarou had three of the five quints, plus Y/N, gathered in there. He had his arms crossed, a deadpan expression as his attention was on Yotsuba the most.

"I'm just curious, but what are you all doing?" He was confused.

"Folding origami cranes," Y/N smiled.

"My friend's friend is hospitalized!"

"Go study now!" Fuutarou yelled before he ultimately sighed. "Give me half. After you finish these, you have to study, okay?"

'You're actually helping her?' Ichika thought with a sweat dropping expression.

A teacher with a pile of books in his hands soon came up. "Oh, Nakano. Perfect timing. Can you hand back those notebooks for me?"

"Yes!" Yotsuba cheerfully exclaims.

A visible tick mark appeared on Fuutarou's cheek.

"A-Ah! Uesugi-san, calm down! I'll get to studying, okay!" Y/N says in an attempt to calm him down. It really didn't do anything.

'This girl... How nice is she trying to be?' Fuutarou thought for a moment before he gulped. 'Or is she trying to buy time so that she doesn't have to study...!? If that's true, she's even more evil than Nino!' "Actually, I don't need your contact info..."

His phone soon goes off. Grunting himself, Fuutarou dug into his pockets and took out his phone, unflipping it to see the screen. He then choked on his spit, beginning to sweat profusely as he received an electronic mail from Ichika. The message also had an image attachment to it, reading, "Cute sleeping face." with a heart symbol at the end.

The message read, "If you don't want this to get out, you should hurry up and get the remaining 4 girls' email addresses!"

She ended the message with a smiley face. Her previous request from this morning wasn't a request anymore. At this point, he took it to be a threat, or maybe an order. But he was terrified of what the image attachment was, which was a picture of him sleeping on Ichika's lap. Probably from the previous night when they lit up the sparklers when they missed the fireworks.

He then looked to the pink-haired girl, Ichika resting her face on her hand whilst a teasing and smug grin formed on her face. His previous visible tick mark on his face soon appeared again and began to grow larger.

"I really want to know your email addresses." He sounded desperate, with some irritation laced in his voice. He then hung his head low. 'This girl, Ichika, doing stupid things again... It's hopeless. Let's try to think positively...'

Miku then presented her phone to him. "I'll cooperate."

"Oh, great." He nonchalantly took it. Fuutarou began to enter the number of Miku into his phone before he took a side glance at her. "Is your leg alright?"

"It... It doesn't hurt anymore." Miku blushed.

"Ok," Fuutarou nodded. "I'll get Itsuki's and Nino's addresses later."

"Oh, I just Nakano-san and Nino-san walking by earlier," Y/N pipes up, getting out of his seat.

Yotsuba followed suit, "Yeah! Let's hurry and ask them!"

"Why do you two have to come along!? And Yotsuba, Y/N, what about yours--"

"If you don't hurry, they'll leave!" Yotsuba yelled, both her and Y/N leaving the library already.

"It just seems to me that you don't want to study! You too, Y/N!"

"That's not true, Uesugi-san!"

As soon as the three left, Ichika smiled. She then took a glance at her younger sister.

"It's nice."

Miku smiled as she held up her phone, looking at the inputted number.

"...Yes."

---

Timeskip-Cafeteria

Now entering the school's cafeteria, Yotsuba and Y/N led Fuutarou to the table Itsuki and Nino were sitting at. The question he had asked already went as expected.

"I refuse. I. Refuse!" Of course, Nino retaliated.

Itsuki stops nibbling on her pastry. "There's no reason for us to give you our email addresses."

"Then, Nakano-san, why did you give me your email address?" Y/N posed his question.

"Because I wanted to."

"But, that doesn't--"

"Because I wanted to," she stated again, giving Y/N a close-eyed smile. However, that closed-eyed smile simply sent the message of, 'Be quiet now, L/N-kun.'

"Wait, why do you have her email address!?" Fuutarou points at Y/N.

He was about to respond, but was soon met with Itsuki's close-eyed smile once more. Y/N was shut up once again.

Fuutarou sighed. 'It's just like I thought, but...' "How about this! If you exchange email addresses with me now, you'll also get Raiha's address as a bonus! Buy one, get one free! You'll never get a deal like this again!"

The offer didn't seem tempting to her. Itsuki only gave Fuutarou an unimpressed stare. She then faced away from him.

"A leopard cannot change it's spots."

"Selling out your own friend, how crass!"

Fuutarou then looked to the other Nakano girl. "Nino, you won't give me your address?"

"Of course not!"

"Then, there's no other way... Well, then, we'll just talk without you. I'll just be a secret between me, Y/N, and the other four girls!"

As if she was submitting to defeat, Nino began to shake. Begrudgingly, she extended her arm out, gritting her teeth in the process. "G-Give--Give me paper, I'll write it."

Begrudgingly as well, Itsuki entered her number into Fuutarou's phone while Nino was writing hers down on the small slip of paper the boy had given her. If it didn't go to show, Fuutarou was quite pleased with the results.

"This should be enough." Itsuki was able to let out that much.

Now satisfied with a grin on his face, he stood with Yotsuba and Y/N next to him, the former with her hands on her hips. Yotsuba soon jumped.

"Oh, there's still one person left," Y/N says.

Yotsuba then perked up. "Huh? Ichika, Miku, Itsuki, Nino... Ah! Yotsuba! There's still me!"

'She's just a naive girl...' Fuutarou deadpanned.

"Here's my email address."

The black-haired teen took his phone back from Itsuki, then looking to Yotsuba's to obtain hers. Just as he was about to enter it in, Yotsuba's phone began to ring. The orange-haired girl checked the number of the person calling her.

It was Hongo, Captain of the girl's basketball team.

"Ah! I've got something to do! I'll be going first!" Yotsuba yells, charging out of the cafeteria doors.

"What...!? The basketball club, is it!" Fuutarou charges after. Y/N soon follows after, "A-Ah, Uesugi-san, wait for me!"

"A-Ah, wait!" It was too late. The two boys left. Nino awkwardly held up the paper with her phone's mail address on it. "I...wrote my email address..."

---

Following the orange-haired girl, both Y/N and Fuutarou hid behind a wall, listening in on the conversation Yotsuba was having with the captain of the basketball team.

"Nakano! Thanks for everything you've done up 'til now!" Hongo thanks with an appreciative grin.

"Everyone's worked hard!"

'Just as I thought... Yotsuba's still involved with the basketball club...'

"Hey, Uesugi-san, what are we doing here again?" Y/N whispered in Fuutarou's ear.

"Wha--!? When did you get hear!?" He asked in a hushed whisper. "Arrgh, no time to argue! Just be quiet!"

"Eeeeeeehhhh???"

Hongo's tone then turned serious. "Nakano, have you thought about joining the club?"

Fuutarou choked on his spit.

"Yes... I'm really happy that you invited me."

'She what...! She never intended to study from the start!' Fuutarou thought.

"Well, then, that's great--"

But Yotsuba abruptly bows, "But I'm sorry! I must decline."

Hongo, Y/N, and Fuutarou were surprised by Yotsuba's answer. The two boys really thought she'd consider joining, using it as a scapegoat to get out from studying. Her words that were spoken next could be filled with genuine happiness.

"I know that everyone in the club is having a hard time, but I have an important commitment after school! Of course, if you ever need a substitute during competitions, it's ok to call me anytime...!"

"If that's so, then it's fine," Hongo appreciates. "It's really such a waste not to use a talent like that, though."

Yotsuba then smiled. "There are people waiting for me... Those that would support even the talentless me!"

The two boys stayed silent as they continued to listen. Seconds later, Yotsuba finally finished talking to the basketball team's captain, exiting the locker room. She sighed in relief, turning the corner as she was about to head back to the library.

However, she jumped in surprise when she found both Y/N and Fuutarou just sitting at the bend.

"Ah! U-Uesugi-san, L/N-san!? Why are you guys here... Ah-I was just on my way to the library... The library's on the other side of the building, though. Weird..."

The black-haired teen turned to the Nakano girl with a smirk on his face. "Did you finish your work? We've got a lot of studying to do today, so prepare yourself!"

Yotsuba saluted. "All right! I'm ready!"

"Let's do our best, Yotsuba-san!" Y/N suddenly exclaims, standing up.

"Yeah! Fight on!"

"Yeah!"

'...What a bunch of idiots,' Fuutarou deadpanned.

However, it seemed that Fuutarou was forgetting something. He didn't accomplish Ichika's task of getting all the girl's phone numbers onto his phone, but it was unclear whether Ichika exposed the photo to her siblings.

But in the end, he never did get Nino's phone number.

---

Asahiyama High School, Days Later...

"Ah! Nakano-san, your hands are so small!" One of Itsuki's friends exclaims. The girl then ran up to her, grasping Itsuki's hands with her own. "Ah!"

"What's wrong?" Itsuki asked, tilting her head.

"It's just that, when hands are held unexpectedly, your heart will beat faster."

"Really?"

"Yeah..."

As it was the next morning in class, one of Itsuki's friends had grown curious and held her hands. However, the commotion being caused by the two attracted the attention of two certain boys.

Both Y/N and Fuutarou looked to the two girls, confused gazes on their faces.

"Seems those two are having a good time..." Fuutarou says.

Y/N was sweating slightly with a nervous look. "If you're curious, then just go talk to them. Don't stare at them like that. They will know..."

Itsuki then looked in the direction of the two, feeling their stares. She sent an annoyed glare at them, most specifically towards Fuutarou.

"They noticed you!"

Fuutarou walked up to the two, dragging Y/N with him.

"What are you two doing? Why are you holding hands?" He asked the girls.

Itsuki's friend was surprised that he had just randomly walked up to them. But she then shook her head, ignoring those thoughts.

"Come here! Nakano-san's hands are small!"

"Wh-What are--"

Itsuki's sentence was cut off when her friend had dragged her over to Fuutarou. Taking their hands together, she had them clasp them together, although not fully. The two blushed at the contact of skin.

"Oohh! With boys' hands, yours are still small, Nakano-san!"

"I-It's unfair to compare girls' hands with boys' hands!"

'Oi... Our hands are touching together...what'll happen if I--' Fuutarou's train of thoughts were soon interrupted by Itsuki's glare.

"If you dare hold my hands, I'll beat you," she straightforwardly states.

Fuutarou then faced away, a tear almost leaving his eye. "Heh... I'll lose my life if I touch her..."

Y/N appeared next to his friend, giving him a thumbs-up, "Never mind, Uesugi-san! You can hold my hands."

"No need!" Fuutarou retorts. "And why would holding your hands make feel better!?"

"Eh? I-It won't...?"

"Of course it won't, idiot!"

The two girls watch from the sidelines as they see the two boys arguing, Fuutarou grabbing Y/N's shoulders while shaking him repeatedly, and also screaming in his face. Itsuki's friend then nudges her with her elbow, promptly causing her to get closer. Her friend then cups her ear, whispering into it.

"Hey, Nakano-san."

"Hmm?"

"Don't you find it hard to believe that those two are good friends?"

Itsuki then looked back to the two boys, whom were still arguing. The red-haired girl smiled, shaking her head lightly.

"No. No, not really."

Hours after school pass by, Itsuki stood in the doorway of her apartment home of her sisters and herself. Her eye twitched as she stared at the scene in front of her, the whole living room was a mess.

"Geez. What should I say? This is how it's just supposed to be...?" 'They scattered all their clothes around and left home again... Since Ichika asked me that question, they've been leaving the house a lot.'

She sighed in annoyance, the red-haired girl left to clean up after her siblings. Once again, she had invited Y/N over to talk again, this becoming a regular thing. Then again, this has always been a regular thing for them.

The hour passed and Y/N arrived, Itsuki letting him in. He then gained a confused look, Itsuki telling him of where her sisters were.

"Eh? They're not here again?" The asks, walking in with a bag in hand.

Itsuki sighed. "Yeah. They went left the school earlier than me, and decided to head out without me... Unbelievable." She muttered the last part to herself.

"Well, I think that just means they're full of energy," Y/N laughed. "Nakano-san, you don't eat blueberries, right?"

"I do, but not a lot."

Little did they know, this was simply Ichika's plan. She figured that her younger sister began to have something growing for the L/N teen, so she decided to experiment with it. Leaving the house with her other siblings, it left Y/N and Itsuki by themselves in the apartment, alone. To have more time together with each other.

In the bag Y/N brought was some cake from his family's shop. He got it out and grabbed two plates, setting a slice on each of them as he grabbed two forks from the drawer nearby. He then took hold of them and went to the low table by the couches, Itsuki sitting on the lone chair, her hands in between her legs.

"Speaking of which, the fruit pie you brought us last time was very delicious!" Itsuki said with a smile.

Y/N cocked an eyebrow. "Really? That's actually made by myself. My parents asked me to give it a try."

"Eh?" Itsuki was surprised. Her smile only grew brighter. "You're awesome!"

As soon as Y/N sat down, they both grew quiet. Sometimes, because their siblings left them alone, they didn't know what to talk about. 

For now, the two were watching on the TV. A show of two boys and two girls, set in a high school setting as the four of them began to run into romance-like situations. However, one of the boys couldn't see the love of a particular girl. Right now, during the show, an event was going on, and they were making chocolates.

One of the boys was arguing with his sister.

'Hag,' the boy on screen mutters.

The older sister begins to strangle her younger brother, 'Say it again! Say it again! I dare you!'

'...Hag.'

The older sister tightens her grip on him. 'You bastard!'

While Y/N seemed to be enjoying it, Itsuki began to lose interest. She grabbed the remote, preparing to change it. When Y/N was about to stop her, he lets out a surprised noise.

"Ah."

"Hmm?"

"Oh, nothing. I just thought, it looked crooked."

Itsuki tilted her head. "What?"

"Ah, I mean your forefinger."

"Oh." The red-haired girl then examines her hand. "Really? I guess... I wonder what the bone inside looks like..."

Y/N shrugged. "I have no idea... I think it can only be seen on x-ray."

The boy had his hands extended out next to hers, the two examining each other's hands and fingers. But it wasn't long until they've found each other nearly clasping their hands together. The tips of their fingers were just touching.

"L/N-kun, your hands are very white..."

"R-Really? Your hands look white, too."

"It's weird. Your hands are bigger than mine, L/N-kun."

Y/N was confused, slightly. "Eh? ...Boys usually have bigger hands than girls, right?"

"But I always thought you would have small hands..." Itsuki admitted. 

She then smiled softly. In the moment, she clasped her down, holding onto Y/N's hand tightly. Y/N stared at her hand for a bit before he responded with the same action as her, gripping her hand tightly as he closed it. The two were now holding hands, silent filling the room.

"...I-I like you," Itsuki stutters.

It took a minute for Y/N to register what she had just said. Before he could even move his lips to respond, Itsuki quickly followed up with something, a small blush on her face.

"H-Hands! I mean your hands!" Itsuki quickly began to get shy. "U-Um... L/N-kun, you have very beautiful hands..."

"My hands?" He asked nonchalantly. It seemed he dismissed what she said earlier.

"Yeah! I like these kinds of hands."

"I kind of noticed something. Do you have a writer's bump, Nakano-san? It looked like you couldn't hold a pen properly, and I don't have a writer's bump."

Itsuki's blush only grew. "Sh-Shut up!"

Y/N chuckled, "But I also like your hands."

"...Eh?"

"I like them," Y/N repeated.

"...You just said that," Itsuki said quietly, but he could still hear it.

"Yeah."

---

Much shorter than last time, but this was all of I could think of. It was a bit hard to choose which scenes of Horimiya to adapt, and which ones I really wanted to use. Especially to put where these scenes would happen in the depiction of the Gotoubun no Hanayome.

Anyway, I'll try to make the next chapter longer, maybe around twenty minutes, but I do hope you enjoyed the chapter. And also, I apologize if updates are inconsistent. I am a really lazy person. And I mean, LAZY.