Classroom of the Elite: Quintuplets

16 - Taking Responsibility

Itsuki: So the thing is I've started modeling only recently before I was enrolled here...

Her gaze was fixated on the table in front of us, not because there's something wrong with the table but because she's probably replaying the memories in her head while telling me about them.

Itsuki: I've always had that idea in the back of my head, and a few months before my enrollment I started with it. The cause of this idea was...

Her face expressed sadness and pain, before she told me the reason why she had the idea, she took a short talking pause but ultimately proceeded reluctantly.

Itsuki: ....my mother's death.

Ayanokoji: I'm sorry to make you remind of this tragic incident.

Although she hadn't tears in her eyes, her facial expression and voice was enough to tell me just how painful the death of her mother was for her.

Itsuki: It's fine. I had to face it someday anyway.

A brief moment passed and I took a sip from my tea, meanwhile, Itsuki regained some of her composure and then continued the conversation.

Itsuki: I've idolized my mother ever since I was a little child; she was a teacher but had several offers to become a model, in fact, she was so beautiful that she had a fan club at school.

Ayanokoji: She must've been really beautiful then.

Remembering what her mother looked like, removed some of her sad expression, she even gained a weak smile while remembering her mother's beauty.

Itsuki: She was... I've told her many times to try modeling but she always told me that it wasn't possible for her. Even though she didn't, that's beside the point; that wasn't the main reason...

Ayanokoji: What was the main reason?

Itsuki: Ever since my mother has died, I have lost self-confidence. Out of all the sisters, I was the one who relied the most on her. I've tried to act and be like my mother, in other words, I tried to fill the role that became empty.

To formulate it simply: she tried to act like a mother figure for her sisters after her mother has died. Even though she was the youngest out of them all, she tried to act like a mother all the time.

For someone who idolized her mother, it makes sense to try to be like her even after her death.

Itsuki: But especially in the beginning I've failed miserably. Every one of us searched for something to distract ourselves from the death of our mother. Yotsuba started doing various sports, Nino started to cook and the others as well; only I was left with nothing, I never found anything.

If we take the quintuplet logic, everyone of them excels at different things, so it seems logical that Itsuki wasn't as good in cooking or sports compared to Nino or Yotsuba.

Although Itsuki had a pained face, she just continued to narrate further without stuttering, it was almost like it had been on her mind a lot.

Itsuki: Not only the death but also trying to act like a mother figure was very stressful for me and I didn't have anything to distract myself from the stress. That's when I started with it.

Ayanokoji: Started with what?

If I didn't misunderstand, she told me she started modeling only a few months before enrollment.

Itsuki: Eating; Stress eating to be more precise.

Ayanokoji: So if I understand correctly, you started stress eating because you didn't find anything else to do?