In Another Life, I Guess (Quintessential Quintuplets Fanfiction)

Chapter 17

"Finally! We finished taking the midterms exams. Thank god!" I heard Yotsuba-san said which made me turn towards the general direction of where I heard her. She was walking solo. Seriously? She's been helping almost everyone at school. I honestly thought by now, she has a ton of friends to hang out with. I guess not. "Ohh. Saito-san!" She called as she ran closer to me. I was in the middle of puffing a stick of cigarette so I gestured to her to keep her distance. I guess she understood it since she sat on the opposite side of the bench I was sitting on.

"So how were the exams?" I asked since it was getting a bit silent between us. She seemed startled by my question. That doesn't seem very reassuring that she had an easy time with the exams. Her entire face though suddenly lit up as she gave me a bright smile.

"It was kinda hard but I guess I did alright on it. It was all thanks to you and Uesugi-san for teaching us." She said as a small giggle escape her lips to which I replied with a bright smile of my own. Knowing that she had an easy time made me feel a little bit warm inside. It was a surreal feeling. A kind of feeling I haven't felt in a long time. "Thank you so much. Hopefully, this time we won't flunk our exams as hard as we did last time." She said, her bright smile slowly fading into a lonely one. It was the first time I saw her with a sad smile like that. Maybe because we barely get the chance to even hang out.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you all did great in the exams. Considering that I noticed some similarities with the questions in the sample tests Fuutarou-kun gave and the midterms exams, I'm sure you'll all get good results." I reassured her but her smile barely grew as she look down on the ground. I wonder what she's thinking. I didn't even notice it but my hands moved on their own and before I knew it, I was patting her head. She seemed surprised with what I just did and to be honest, even I was surprised. I mean, I do this a lot with Ichi-chan and all but that's mostly because we are close. Me and Yotsuba-san barely even talk in the sessions so I'm surprised with myself. Is this my new way of comforting people?

"S-Saito-san?" She mumbled under her breath as she looked at me. She started giggling as she put my hands down.

"What? I was trying to cheer you up. You seem kinda down. I mean, usually, you're the talkative type so I'm just weirded out by the fact that you're actually silent for a change." I said as I scratched the back of my head, awkwardly. She giggled even harder as I finished my sentence. "Stop that," I said, now with a serious look on my face. "I know how painful it is to pretend that you're ok all the time. It's ok to let go once in a while." I continued which made her revert to her sad, depressive state.

"I can't. I don't want my sisters to worry about me." She protested. I couldn't help but flick her forehead upon hearing her say those words. She was completely stunned by what I just did. Probably because it was too hard and also because it was something she didn't expect me to do. "What was that for?!" She exclaimed as she rubbed the region in her forehead where I flicked her.

"I knew you were pretty much an idiot but I didn't expect you were that much of an idiot," I said as harshly as I can. She just looked at me with a confused face. She's just proving my point even more. I sighed in frustration as I looked at the people walking past us. "They're your sisters. Of course, they're gonna be worried about you. It's kinda part of the package of having siblings that you're gonna worry about them." I said as I light another stick of cigarette.

"I know that but still. I don't want them to worry about me. Especially now. I noticed lately that Nino has become more distant than she was before. She's never been distant to us sisters. There's also Ichika who seems like a lot is going on in her mind. She spaces out a lot more recently. Maybe it's because of her work or something else. I'm not really sure either. Itsuki has been spending most of her time in her room recently. When I asked her she said she just said she was just studying upstairs. She's been studying hard recently and I'm not sure why. As for Miku, she seems to be hiding something from us. I tried to ask her but, of course, she didn't tell me anything." She said as she looked down on the ground.