Chapter 314: Quarreling
Nighttime, inside a high-class restaurant.
Nakano Maruo put down the phone.
Clearly, today was supposed to be a good day for the whole family to have dinner together, yet he suddenly received a call from Sakurai Saki asking to quit. Honestly, he was a little surprised.
Everyone had seen the boy's ability over the past year—lifting their grades from rock bottom to above average. That wasn't something just any tutor could do. To call it a miracle wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Today the other party suddenly asked to quit, Nakano Maruo truly couldn't figure it out.
Could it be that living together with his five daughters, each as pretty as a flower, had made the boy feel troubled?
"Dad, what's wrong?" Itsuki mumbled through a mouthful of food.
Nakano Maruo glanced at the pile of dishes stacked in front of his daughter, then answered: "Just now, Sakurai-kun called."
The moment those words fell, everyone went silent.
Nino was the first to speak: "He said he wants to quit?"
"Umu, I already agreed." Nakano Maruo noticed that Nino's emotions weren't agitated at all.
On the contrary, Miku and Ichika looked unhappy.
Yotsuba and Itsuki kept eating casually.
"Why did you agree?" Miku asked sadly.
"It seems you girls really like this tutor." Nakano Maruo rarely talked with his daughters. Usually, he was always working at the hospital and only on holidays or special occasions would he join them for a meal or a family trip.
He truly hadn't expected that his daughters and Sakurai Saki had grown this close.
"Like." Miku nodded.
"He really is very capable."
Nakano Maruo, however, thought that the "like" his daughter spoke of was only the kind of liking one had for a friend.
"But as far as I know, ever since he began tutoring, his own grades have gradually declined. Especially this semester."
"That has nothing to do with us." Itsuki cut in.
It was entirely because Sakurai was dating—and even living together with—his girlfriend.
In the first half-year, his grades had improved, even reaching first place in the year.
"Itsuki, if he doesn't tutor you girls anymore, won't he have more energy to focus on studying? You should understand that much."
"..." Itsuki fell silent.
"Next year is his last year of high school, tied directly to university entrance. Perhaps he feels he no longer has enough energy to keep tutoring." Nakano Maruo guessed.
He had a very good impression of Sakurai Saki.
Seeing that his daughters looked unhappy, Nakano Maruo comforted them: "If you want a tutor, I can find another suitable one for you."
"I don't want that!" The one who spoke was Nino, her expression deadly serious.
Nakano Maruo couldn't understand why his daughter was angry.
"Nino, Sakurai-kun is just an outsider. Even if he's tutored for a year, our family doesn't depend on him so much that we can't do without him."
Nino explained: "I don't care about Sakurai-san quitting, but I don't want another new tutor."
At first, she hated Sakurai Saki precisely because she didn't want another stranger appearing in the house and disturbing the daily life of the five sisters.
"I do care." This time it was Miku who spoke.
"I don't want Saki-kun to quit."
Yotsuba chimed in: "I don't want it either. But since Sakurai-san has already decided, there's nothing we can do."
Itsuki looked at her sisters arguing, not knowing what she should say.
Ichika also didn't speak.
She understood her father, so she knew persuading him was useless now. Moreover, Yotsuba was completely right.
The crucial problem lay with Sakurai Saki, not with their father.
"Excuse me, I'll go to the restroom." Miku said while standing up.
Nino watched for a moment, then also found an excuse to follow.
...
"Miku getting angry, that's really rare." Nakano Nino chuckled as she followed Miku into the restaurant lounge.
"I'm not." Nakano Miku replied in a calm tone.
"You are angry. As sisters, I can tell."
"Sisters, sisters… you always have the word 'sisters' on your lips. Nino, do you really understand what everyone thinks?"
"Huh?" Nino froze.
"Why do you always like to say the opposite? Clearly everyone doesn't want Saki-kun to quit, yet you're the one saying those things. You don't have a single thought of self-reflection." After saying that, Miku prepared to return.
Nino pulled her back, speaking coldly: "Miku, what do you mean by that?"
What do I need to reflect on?
Where did I say anything wrong?
"Back then it was you who made the relationship between Saki-kun and everyone turn cold, and now when he wants to quit, it's also you who acts all magnanimous!" Miku tried to pull her hand free from Nino's grip.
"What exactly do you mean, say it clearly!" Nino raised her voice.
"You want me to be clear?" Miku turned her head to look at her, impatience on her face: "You're always bothering everyone, and you don't even have the slightest self-awareness."
Nino was stunned at those words.
By the time she regained her senses, Miku had already gone back to her seat.
...
The two returned to the dinner table, and the atmosphere immediately turned cold.
The air around seemed frozen. Though no one knew what the two had just said, it was obvious they had quarreled.
Nino and Miku often quarreled, usually over trivial matters.
Everyone was used to it.
Anyway, they would make up after a few days.
An hour later, dinner ended. Nakano Maruo prepared to return to the hospital, while his female driver took the five sisters back to the apartment in Minato district.
...
At the same time, Sakurai Saki had just finished bathing.
He had no idea that one phone call from him had caused Nino and Miku to quarrel.
"We're about to move soon. This place will be rented to someone else."
"Kind of feels like I'll miss it a little." Hayasaka Ai, wearing a thin nightdress, was flipping through a hardcover book.
At this moment, she was wearing glasses.
That's right, Ai-chan was nearsighted, but normally she wore daily disposable contact lenses, a new pair each day.
When she wore glasses, she was surprisingly very cute.
"Then how about renting it again?"
"That costs a lot of money, and besides, what would we even use it for if we kept it? To shelter a bunch of runaways?" Hayasaka Ai joked.
"Then forget it, we don't have money anyway." Sakurai Saki only said it casually.
He and Hayasaka Ai had chosen a new apartment also in Minato, quite close to Shirogane's home, so later after school they could even visit Kei-chan.
When Shirogane Miyuki heard about this, his expression turned a little peculiar, as if he were on guard against a thief.
"Oh right, a few days ago Chika asked me to go to Disneyland during spring break, I still haven't answered." Sakurai Saki mentioned offhandedly.
"You can go."
"As expected, I can't… EH? I can??" Sakurai Saki was shocked.
"Friends hanging out together is normal, isn't it? Besides, you'll be going with your girlfriend too." Hayasaka Ai wasn't worried at all, because she also intended to go along.
"..."
Sakurai Saki felt that Chika definitely didn't mean to invite Ai-chan like that.
"You don't need to tell her about this, leave it to me." Hayasaka Ai was a little displeased.
What's Secretary-chan trying to do?
Secretly inviting my boyfriend to hang out, while leaving me—the legitimate girlfriend—out in the cold?
Sakurai Saki looked at Hayasaka Ai scrolling on her phone, and didn't think too much more about it.
...
On the other side, while soaking in the bathtub, Fujiwara Chika received Hayasaka Ai's reply message.
She thought for a moment, then sent a message to Shinomiya Kaguya.
"The two-person world plan failed."
Then it could only be turned into a group activity.