Saturday's sunlight streamed through the glass window, casting warm patches of light on the wooden tables of the cafe.
Okabara Kyogumichi arrived ten minutes early at the agreed-upon location, chose a corner seat by the window, and, recalling the principal's description of the Nakano Quintuplets, already had a plan in mind.
As the wall clock pointed to nine fifty, the wind chimes at the entrance jingled crisply, and a girl in a yellow sweater hurried in.
The girl had fiery red hair that reached her waist, with the ends slightly curled inwards, and bangs neatly falling between her eyebrows. She was indeed Nakano Itsuki, who looked the most serious in the photo.
She was carrying a large school bag and also hugging a bag of... meat buns?
The girl looked around, saw Kyogumichi, and quickly walked over, bowing slightly: "Hello! I'm Nakano Itsuki, I'm sorry, I'm not late, am I?"
"No, I just arrived too." Kyogumichi stood up and returned the bow, noticing that Itsuki's cheeks were a little flushed and her forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat. "Were you rushing on the way?"
"Hmm! I got a little lost..." Itsuki scratched her head a little awkwardly. When she pulled out a chair and sat down, reference books tumbled out of her backpack onto the floor. She gasped, quickly bent down to pick them up, and in her haste, her hair brushed against the menu on the table, creating a bit of a chaotic scene.
Kyogumichi quickly helped pick up the books, his fingertips accidentally brushing her hand, and both paused simultaneously. Itsuki's cheeks turned even redder, and she quickly hugged the books to her chest: "Th-thank you! I'm so clumsy."
"It's alright." Kyogumichi handed her a picked-up math exercise book, noticing that the cover was covered in dense notes and many incorrect problems marked in red. "It seems you study very diligently."
When studying was mentioned, Itsuki's eyes immediately became determined: "Yes! I want to improve my grades so I can become a teacher in the future, but no matter how hard I try, they just don't go up..."
Her tone dropped, and she sighed softly, "So, Okabara-san, please, I beg you, you must help us!"
The waiter happened to come over to take their order at that moment. Itsuki quickly ordered a hot cocoa and a sandwich, clearly having not eaten breakfast yet. She also took out a meat bun from her bag and happily ate it.
Kyogumichi looked at her, seeing how hungry she was, and couldn't help but smile: "Eat something first, we can talk slowly."
"I'm sorry..." Hearing Kyogumichi's words, Itsuki suddenly realized there was someone else there. Clearly, eating had made her forget everything around her; she was truly a pure little foodie.
Itsuki glanced at the meat bun, then at Kyogumichi, who only had a cup of coffee in front of him, gritted her teeth, and offered him one.
"Okabara-san, eat it, it's a meat bun, it's delicious!" After saying that, she looked at the meat bun again, clearly very reluctant to part with it.
Kyogumichi saw this scene and almost couldn't hold back his laughter. He had never noticed such a cute side to Nakano Itsuki before.
Kyogumichi did not accept Itsuki's kind offer, telling her to eat at ease first and they would talk later. Itsuki was very happy, eating the meat buns in a few bites, and soon finished all the meat buns and the sandwich.
"Okabara-san, how do you plan to tutor us?"
Kyogumichi took out the form he had prepared. "I've made a simple tutoring plan, take a look and see if it's suitable." The form detailed two tutoring sessions per week, two hours each on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon, starting with basic math and English, and then adding physics and chemistry according to their progress...
Itsuki leaned close to the form, looking at it seriously, the steam from the hot cocoa blurring her glasses. She took out a pen and circled and drew on the form, occasionally offering her opinions: "Saturday morning is fine, but Ichika has to work on Sunday afternoon, could we change it to the evening? Also, Yotsuba is in the track and field club, and training finishes very late..."
Kyogumichi patiently recorded her suggestions, secretly admiring that the principal was right; Itsuki was indeed the most responsible of the quintuplets, even knowing her sisters' schedules like the back of her hand. "Then, can we change the Sunday time to Friday evening from seven to nine?"
"I'll ask them!" Itsuki immediately took out her phone, typing quickly. The chat window that popped up was named "Quintuplets' Home."
She looked at her sisters' replies, frowning from time to time, and finally looked up and said: "Okay! Everyone's fine with it! But Nino said... she hopes to meet you first before deciding whether to accept tutoring."
Kyogumichi had expected this, as the principal had specifically mentioned Nino's willful personality. "It's alright, for the first tutoring session, everyone should be present. We can do a simple test first to understand each person's learning situation, and then tailor the review based on their weaknesses."
"Thank you so much!" Itsuki exclaimed excitedly, almost spilling her hot cocoa. "Actually, my sisters all want to improve, but they just don't know how to try. Ichika is always busy with her part-time job, Nino has to take care of everyone's meals, Miku isn't very good at expressing herself, Yotsuba spends all her time on club activities..."
Kyogumichi quietly listened to Itsuki describe her sisters' situations, sensing her concern for her family. This seemingly somewhat clumsy girl actually had a strong sense of responsibility and wanted all five sisters to achieve good grades.
"Oh, right, here are our final exam report cards for your reference." Itsuki took out a stack of test papers from her school bag, each with a different name written on it. "My math and English are okay, but my physics is very bad; Miku's science is actually good, she just doesn't want to study; Nino's Japanese is very good, but her other subjects are..." She stopped halfway, a little embarrassed.
As Kyogumichi looked through the test papers, he found that the quintuplets' grades were indeed as their name suggested, showing a "quintuple" distribution, with the best and worst differing by dozens of points. But he noticed that on Miku's physics test, although many questions were left blank, the correct problem-solving steps were written on her scratch paper, clearly indicating potential.
"I understand now." Kyogumichi organized the test papers. "For the first tutoring session, we'll start with the function part of mathematics, as this is your weak point. I'll prepare some basic practice problems, and everyone will do them together then."
"Okay! I'll definitely inform everyone!" Itsuki nodded vigorously, carefully writing down the agreed time and place in her notebook, afraid of missing any detail. She finished the last sip of hot cocoa and said, a little shyly: "I'll treat you today, thank you for being willing to help us."
"No need, I'll take care of it." Kyogumichi smiled and waved his hand, calling the waiter to pay the bill. "How about you treat me to a big meal if you make progress in the next tutoring session?"
Itsuki's eyes lit up: "Okay! It's a deal!"
By the time they left the cafe, it was almost noon. The sunlight had become warmer, and people were bustling on the street. Itsuki, holding the organized materials, bowed earnestly to Kyogumichi: "Please guide us well! I will definitely make sure my sisters attend the tutoring sessions on time!"
"Be careful on your way." Kyogumichi watched her quickly walk away, her yellow sweater particularly noticeable in the crowd. He suddenly felt a sense of anticipation for the first tutoring session. What kind of scene would it be with five sisters of such different personalities gathered together? Just thinking about it was exciting!
He took out his phone and saw a message from Yukinoshita: "Review materials are ready, see you at the library at three this afternoon." Kyogumichi smiled and replied "Okay," then turned and walked in the direction of the library.
The cherry blossom trees by the street swayed gently in the autumn wind, as if foreshadowing the upcoming tutoring time, full of laughter and challenges. Kyogumichi took a deep breath, quickened his pace, and had already begun planning the test questions for the first tutoring session.