"Are you all... sick?"
On Monday, the day after the apartment was ready, something bizarre happened.
After school, instead of hanging out with friends or heading home, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, and Itsuki followed Ichika to her new apartment. They sat around the low table, surrounding her, and actually started... studying!
Her sisters were studying! Studying! Studying!
Ichika wanted to ask if they had all suffered collective brain damage. Being their sister, she tried to be polite and settled on asking if they were ill.
"Hah? Sick? What are you talking about?" Nino raised her voice, using her classic tsundere act to hide her guilt. "We... we just felt it was time to put in some effort."
"Mm... a student's job is to study," Miku said tonelessly.
"I've always been studying," Itsuki added, though she averted her eyes guiltily. Wait, isn't it worse that I'm always studying but my grades still suck?
"That's right, that's right!" Yotsuba, full of energy as always, chimed in to explain for them. "We need to pass at least one subject on the next exam!"
"Hmm?" Ichika's brow furrowed. She sensed a conspiracy. "Pass at least one subject? Why 'at least one' specifically?"
The four sisters panicked. They couldn't exactly tell Ichika that Rin was blackmailing them. They weren't sure if Rin was joking or if he'd actually tell Ichika the truth about their little "identity swap" incident. If Rin had demanded they pass all subjects, they would have just given up—they couldn't do that even if they studied until they died. But passing just one subject? That was within the realm of possibility.
Even with their terrible grades, each had a subject they weren't completely failing. For Nino, it was English. For Miku, History. For Yotsuba, Japanese. Itsuki was a bit more balanced—her science and math weren't bottom-tier, but "not bottom-tier" was relative. She still had a long way to go to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher.
Seeing Ichika's suspicion, Nino huffed impatiently. "Why do you care so much? You started studying too, didn't you? If you can do it, why can't we?"
"Of course you can," Ichika giggled. She didn't know exactly what had happened, but she was sure Rin had played a part.
While Ichika's original plan was to motivate them by moving out and getting a boyfriend, she was certain this sudden academic drive wasn't because of her. The "pass at least one subject" deal was clearly a pact between Rin and her sisters.
Although she was happy they were studying, she felt a strange, complicated twinge in her chest. They were keeping a secret from her—the sister they'd been with since birth—to make a pact with a man they'd only known for a few days.
It was a sour feeling. It reminded her of the roleplay she did with Kaede, imagining Nanami as her sister.
It felt like she was being cucked.
They hadn't been studying long before Rin and Nanami arrived. This time, Mashiro didn't come along; she stayed at Rin's place to draw. Mashiro had zero interest in schoolwork. She only followed Nanami before because she was jealous, but now...
Ever since Ichika and Kaede had used them as "material" for their sessions, Mashiro viewed the sisters as fellow companions who liked Rin—or companions-to-be. Since they were on the same team, there was no need for jealousy. They could all have a big party together later.
Nino and the others were surprised to see Nanami and Rin together.
"Rin is the president of an ACG club, and Nanami is a member. I met him through her," Ichika explained with a smile.
"An ACG club?" Nino raised an eyebrow. "And you're the president?"
"Just a small hobby club. I started it to help Mashiro publish her manga. Eventually, more people joined. They publish or sell manga and games under the club's name, and I don't charge them anything."
"Manga? Mashiro draws manga?" Ichika asked, curious.
Nanami and Mashiro hadn't mentioned it, and since the sisters weren't into high-end art, they hadn't heard of Mashiro's reputation in the oil painting world either.
"We can talk about Mashiro later..." Rin gave Nino and the sisters a meaningful look. "Right now, the most important thing is studying."
The four girls immediately sat bolt upright.
"If you have questions, ask me or Nanami. I've been out of university for a while, so I might have forgotten the advanced stuff, but basic subjects are fine. Nanami has her own homework, so come to me first. If I can't solve it, we'll ask Professor Aoyama."
The quintuplets' poor grades weren't due to lack of intelligence, but a lack of will. Having skipped so much, they had to start from the basics. Rin could handle that.
Under Rin's "oppression," they tried to focus, though there were plenty of distractions—mostly phones, especially in Nino's case.
"Hand over the phone."
"Hah? Why... okay, fine!" Nino started to protest, but one look at Rin's knowing smirk and she surrendered her device.
Improving in just one subject was doable. For Nino, English required vocabulary more than complex grammar at the passing level. Miku's History was about facts; her grades were low only because she only studied the specific Warlords she liked.
If you don't want Ichika to find out about that day, you better start memorizing! Rin thought.
Yotsuba's Japanese would take effort, and Itsuki had a mountain to climb to reach university. As for Ichika... she preferred Math.
Heh. The whole world can lie to you, but Math won't. If you don't know it, you just don't know it.