"...."
The one-hour diagnostic test ended, and Nanami fell silent as she looked at the papers they handed in. She had prepared a test covering basic topics for every subject.
The total possible score was 100—and their combined score was exactly 100. Five sisters, five scores, one hundred points in total.
Yotsuba was the worst with 8 points, Ichika had 12, Nino had 20, and Itsuki had 28. Miku had the best score among them with 32. As for Mashiro... 100 points!
It wasn't that Mashiro actually understood the questions; rather, Nanami had copied these problems directly from the textbook, and Mashiro had simply memorized the answer keys perfectly.
"Your grades are terrible. Are you idiots?" Mashiro said expressionlessly, before pointing at Nanami. "That is what Nanami wants to say."
"Should I just give up?" Nanami muttered, dejected.
"Don't give up," Mashiro added, continuing to twist the knife.
Ichika bit her lip, desperately stifling a laugh. She kept shooting looks at her sisters while signaling Nanami to persevere. After all, if Nanami quit, their father would just find another tutor. It was better to have Nanami around than some stranger.
"It's getting late, let's go eat first," Itsuki suggested with a bright smile.
Nanami glanced at the clock. Their deep-seated aversion to studying wasn't something she could fix in an afternoon. Since things had come to this, eating was the only option. It seemed earning this paycheck wasn't going to be easy; she needed to find a way to spark their motivation. But first...
"Do you have ingredients at home? I'll cook dinner... You guys start on your school homework. If there's anything you don't understand, I'll explain it later."
She couldn't let them wiggle out of today's lesson so easily. If they went out to eat, they would definitely find a dozen excuses to avoid studying afterward. Today, she was at least going to supervise them until their school assignments were finished.
"Nanami, you're our guest, how can we let you cook? We'll handle it! You just sit here and rest," Nino suggested. As the sister usually responsible for the meals, she had the support of the others immediately.
To them, doing anything—even chores—was better than studying.
Nanami tried to refuse, but the five sisters finished a silent exchange with a single glance. Ichika dragged Nanami back to the sofa while Nino and the others vanished into the kitchen like a flock of startled birds.
Nanami sighed as she watched them flee.
"Don't worry too much about it," Ichika comforted her with a smile, while Mashiro patted Nanami's head gently to console her.
"You'll never improve your grades like this," Nanami said helplessly. "Getting a perfect score is hard, but just passing is easy even for an 'idiot' if they just put in a little time. Why won't you just try?"
"Well..." Ichika glanced toward the kitchen. "Mostly because we don't want to become 'special.' Before our mother passed away, she told us that the five of us must always stay together."
"In April, we were all idiots... Previously, our grades weren't great, but we could pass the makeup exams if we tried. However, our last school was very strict; if you failed, you were expelled."
"Yotsuba joined the sports club and won a lot of awards, but she focused so much on sports that her grades plummeted. She failed her makeup exams and was expelled. Even though the rest of us passed, we had to stay together... so we all transferred with her."
Nanami wasn't stupid. Hearing this, she understood why they resisted learning so much. Beyond finding it difficult and tiring, they were terrified of being separated. If one sister excelled and another failed, they would eventually be sent to different schools or different paths in life.
Being quintuplets who looked exactly the same, they had different strengths and passions. It was impossible for all five to be equally "smart," but being equally "dumb" was easy—and relaxing.
"Is that why you're keeping secrets from them, Ichika?"
"Shhh~" Ichika raised a finger to her lips and gave Nanami a sly wink. "Actually, I went to an audition today."
"Eh? An audition? How did it go?"
"I don't know," Ichika shrugged. "It lasted two minutes. It was over before I even realized it had started."
"Wait, if you succeed, won't you have to..."
Nanami suddenly realized the problem. They were all slacking off to stay together, but Ichika had signed with an agency. If she became a successful actress, the quintuplets would inevitably be pulled apart.
"It can't be helped," Ichika whispered, her expression complicated as she looked toward the noisy kitchen. "We all know it, we just don't want to face it."
"It's fine while we're still in school. But after graduation? Careers, marriage, starting our own families... Even if we want to be together forever, it's impossible. That's reality."
"We know we can't be together forever, we just don't want to deal with it yet. So... Nanami, just help us trick our Dad for now~ we aren't as amazing as you are."
"If you all just fall in love with the same man, the problem is solved!" Mashiro interrupted, speaking as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Eh? Love the same person? How is that possible?" Ichika's face twitched. "Even as sisters, we have different tastes. Besides, if we fell for the same guy, we'd get jealous and fight."
"Why?" Mashiro tilted her head, her eyes filled with genuine confusion. "If you like the same person, shouldn't you be 'companions'? Since you're already sisters, shouldn't your relationship be even better?"
"???" Ichika found Mashiro's logic strangely sound for a moment. She didn't know how to refute it or explain human possessiveness. After stammering for a while, she managed: "People have a desire for exclusivity. You can't share someone you love, even with a sister."
"Kaede and Rinon do it. Me and mmm-mmm-mmm!!!!"
"Eh? Kaede and Rinon?"
"Nothing! It's nothing!!!" Nanami slammed her hand over Mashiro's mouth. "You just misheard her!!!!"
Mashiro's next words were definitely going to be "Me and Nanami." Thank god Nanami's reflexes were fast, or she'd never be able to explain this to Ichika.
Even though the second half was muffled, the first half was enough to shock Ichika.
"Kaede, Rinon, and him... the three of them are in that kind of relationship!?" Ichika's eyes were wide, her face alight with the joy of hearing juicy gossip.
"SHHH!!!!!"
Seeing Nanami's frantic "quiet" gesture, Ichika covered her own mouth. No wonder Mashiro said that; she had a living example right next to her. But... it was true. If sisters loved the same man and accepted each other, they couldn't legally marry, but they could indeed stay together forever.
But Kaede and Rinon were only two. There were five of them. Five sisters couldn't even agree on what to have for dinner, let alone a man.
And setting aside whether such a man existed who could make all five of them fall in love, his body wouldn't be able to take it. One man might handle two sisters, but five? No man could survive that.
Seeing Ichika's gossipy grin, Nanami decided to drop the subject immediately. Ichika knew she and Mashiro lived with Rin. She didn't want to think about what the future held for such a complicated arrangement; that was a problem for later. For now, she had to change the subject before her own secrets were exposed.
"I'll keep your secret, but I can't lie to your father. I'll just tell him that I'm not a good enough teacher, how about that?"
"Mm~ No problem."
Nanami nodded as Ichika agreed. She couldn't interfere too much in another family's business.
"What kind of movie was the audition for?" Nanami asked, steering the conversation away.
"A zombie flick. I'm just playing a high school girl who gets bitten and dies in one or two shots. I don't even know if I got the part. But hey... today my agency president told me about actresses being tricked into 'casting couch' situations—losing their virginity and still not getting the role."
"Eh? Who?"
The two girls descended into gossip mode. Nanami didn't know much about mainstream stars, so she shared some "tea" from the voice acting world instead. There was plenty of drama there, too.
"The entertainment world is so messy. Ichika, be careful," Nanami warned like a worried mother.
"I'm fine, I won't do anything like that," Ichika laughed, unfazed. Such things existed, but she was just a newcomer; surely no one would target her.
Recalling the plots of the smutty manga she'd read, a worried Nanami continued to nag.
"If anyone says to you, 'Ichika-chan, you wouldn't want to see your career ruined, would you?', don't panic. Tell me or tell Kaede. We'll handle it~"