Reincarnated Into Anime World - Chapter 42

“Maruo-san? Did mom ask you to find us?”

“Yes. The school contacted Rena-san the moment one of you went missing, but since she couldn’t leave her current school at this time, she asked me to help. Come on, now. Your sisters and mother are worried sick.” The man, Maruo, replied.

Having adjusted my eyes to the sudden change in brightness, I could now see the man’s appearance.

Maruo had black eyes and black hair, which was center-parted, revealing the center of his forehead. His eyes were almond-shaped and had shadows covering them, making his already stern appearance even sterner. Though I had to admit that he’s pretty good-looking, if you’re not comparing with me, that is.

He currently wore a black suit, for some reason that I do not know. Who on Earth wears a suit when going out to hunt for a missing person?

Seeing Maruo familiar yet distant relationship with Miku and hearing how Miku’s mother called him to help find her, I assume that this man would probably be their stepfather soon.

Miku’s mother must be one amazing woman to be able to attract such a prospective doctor. I wonder what Miku’s mother had done to attract Maruo.

Most importantly, he looked very young. He seemed to be in his early twenties, maybe even in his nineteens, making him a very young doctor, if he is currently one.

Are all doctors this young nowadays?! Is it that easy to become a doctor?

Damn…I wonder how rich he is.

“Ano…”

“Yes?”

“Can Fuutarou-san and Shouko-chan come with us to the inn? Because of me, they’re currently lost from their school group as well.” Miku shyly asked.

Maruo looked towards us for a moment before eventually nodding his head.

“Let’s go.”

Phew…that man’s stare is scary…

The man brought us into a fancy ryokan, also known as a traditional Japanese inn.

And as expected of a traditional Japanese inn, everything from the floor to the ceiling looked traditional, with tatami mats and wooden sliding doors.

Honestly, I don’t know what my school’s original place of stay was, but this inn was pretty good.

We were ushered into a room before Maruo took off without saying any other words.

Miku told us to stay here because she would meet up with her sisters to let them know that she was safe.

This room was huge and spacious, and that was why we were there patiently waiting while lying down inside the room. Shouko and I didn’t say anything to Miku’s hurried actions because if anybody was to ask me about that, anyone would have gotten worried if young members of your family were to get lost.

If that were to happen to Raiha or Yuzuru, there was no doubt that Shouko and I would go crazy. But there wasn’t a need to think about it since there was no way that we, the two sis-cons, would ever let that happen.

Miku was going to take some time to assure her sisters that she was alright, and staying here in this room with no one but Shouko as a company, we soon became bored.

“What do you think Miku-chan is doing right now?” Shouko asked.

“Maybe she’s currently giving them the charms she brought earlier. I hope that she didn’t forget about us waiting for her.” I let out a wry smile as I thought of that possibility.

Imagine if she actually just left us here…

“I’m bored and tired…”

I had even put in some effort and brought some cards with me.

“Then let’s play cards games by ourselves first while waiting for Miku-chan to come back,” I told her as I took out the cards that I brought with me. Our larger luggage that contained both Shouko and my stuff was already sent back to the hotel. The only thing that I had brought along was some money which was spent entirely, my camera, and some cards.

Shouko and I shared a piece of luggage since we were just kids, and seeing that we didn’t need to bring too much clothing and essential items, our parents didn’t see the need to carry two big pieces of luggage.

“Let’s play Uno then!” Shouko quickly got out of her drowsy state as she shuffled the cards. However, the cards were soon found scattered on the floor, with Shouko’s face turning red.

There were too many cards, and she didn’t know how to shuffle the cards without making a mess…

In the end, I shuffled the cards, and we started playing.

Uno wasn’t an easy and fast game to win, but we could settle this relatively brief since only two people were playing, and neither was purposely trying to sabotage each other.

Shouko was my girlfriend, after all. Besides, it didn’t make much of a difference since she kept drawing weird cards that were not playable, allowing me to win three times in a row.

“Shou-chan…you’re very unlucky today…” I muttered.

Shouko refused to look at me and just lay down on her back.

“Want to play one more game?”

“No.”

“Really?”

“I don’t want to lose anymore. Let’s play a different game. Something that doesn’t require luck. Hopefully, Miku-chan will hurry…”

“Sure. You’re still going to lose, though.” I smirked as I prepared to start another game. However, just before I could do that, I saw someone peering from the door. It was a cute girl wearing a white, sleeveless one-piece dress with a purple ribbon tied around her waist – the exact same dress that Miku wore.

Speaking of the devil, she finally came back.

“Yo, you finally came,” I said that out loud while ass I turned my attention back to turned shuffling the cards. Although I could do it, the deck of Uno cards was really too thick, requiring a lot of attention to shuffle without dropping all the cards, especially since my hands were still relatively small.

But the moment I noticed her peeking from the door, Miku got fl.u.s.tered.

“We were just starting to get bored playing by ourselves. Let’s play Uno. Hopefully, Shou-chan won’t lose as badly as just now~.”

“Mou…stop mentioning that already.”

“O-okay. Let’s play Uno then.”

Hearing Miku’s words, I immediately lifted my head and looked closely at her.

Hm…wait a minute, there was something wrong.

Why do I feel like she’s a different person from just now? Like her aura, it’s different from just now. And her voice sounded a bit off; it sounded slightly more…energetic?

I knitted my brows and hurriedly stood up.

I’m sure there’s something wrong.

I have an eidetic memory, meaning that I can remember every detail I ever witness before as if I am relieving that memory, and this current person was definitely different from the person I spent half the day with.

“Say, you are Miku-chan, right?” I leaned forward as I tried to observe as much detail as I could.

“Fuu-kun? What are you saying? She’s obviously Miku-chan.” Shouko spoke.

Miku, no, the girl didn’t answer my question and just continued to stare back at me with curiosity, though she backed off slightly. Probably because I was way too close to her.

“I’m Miku, though.”

“Nope. You definitely aren’t. I’m sure of it since Miku-chan never spoke like that. She’s slightly more reserved than you. So, are you her sister?”

But instead of answering my question/deduction, she opened her eyes wide out of surprise for a moment before recovering back her regular expression as she said with a light smile, “You’re right. I’m not Miku.”

“Eh? What are you talking ab-” Shouko was about to ask when another familiar voice sounded.

“Fuutarou-san…?” The familiar voice called out my name all of a sudden. Indeed I had figured out who owned that voice already.

“Miku-chan…right?” I turned towards the door and asked.

However, what I didn’t expect was that I saw four girls having the same identical face. I mean five, if you included the girl currently behind me.

Shouko had a face as though she had just seen a ghost, while the feeling that had been bugging me all day in my heart exploded, and I realized what it was trying to tell me, causing a look of surprise to show up on my face as I realized where I saw them before.

The girls, who seemingly found our faces amusing, let out slight giggles. They probably thought that I was surprised to see they were quintuplets.

I mean, I was, but not as surprised as I remembered which body I was born in. Like any other characters I had seen in this world, it seemed that I was no different.

I don’t remember the exact anime, but Uesugi Fuutarou was definitely the main character for some harem anime that involved these five girls in front of me.

But since this world has changed…well. Let’s not think too much about the future and let nature take its course.

“Haha, was that too surprising?” The first girl spoke.

“Well, that was to be expected.” Another one said.

“Right, I had already gotten used to their reaction.” A third girl added.

“Now, now, that was a typical first impression seeing us together for the first time.” The fourth girl smiled as she said.

I was astonished, though. No matter how much I looked at the five girls, I could see no trace of differences between them. Well, I could tell the subtle differences between them when they were together, but when they were separate, nobody would be able to differentiate between them.

Their faces, bodies, hair, and clothes looked identical as if they were photocopied in their mother’s w.o.m.b. Even their voices were the same.

But I could still tell which one of them was Miku. It was one of the advantages of having an eidetic memory: I easily differentiate people, even quintuplets, if given enough time. Having spent half a day observing this girl, I could tell her apart from the others, though I needed some time.

“But, I didn’t expect you to get here first, Ichika.” The fourth girl saw the girl behind me, Ichika, before adding.

Then one of them, the third girl, came in front and talked with the girl earlier.

The way she moved, the way she talked, the tone of her voice, everything. There was no doubt about it. That’s Miku for sure.

So, the girl earlier, Ichika, spoke, “It’s just…I was just interested in them, the way Miku talked about them, I was intrigued…hehe.”

I don’t think she realized the fact that we were still present here.

“I see, now it makes sense.” The fourth girl sagely nodded as if she understood her reason. We just looked at her dumbly.

No, it doesn’t make sense at all! If Shouko or anybody else was in my position, she would probably already treat Ichika as Miku.

“Fuutarou-san, I know that you are surprised, but I’ll let you know that I am Miku.” The third girl informed me.

Just as I deduced. The quintuplets might be able to fool Shouko and anybody else, but when it comes to me and my memory, they wouldn’t be able to confuse me.

“I know that this is sudden, but let us reintroduce ourselves to you. This is Ichika, Nino, Yotsuba, and Itsuki, from youngest to oldest. I’m the third child, Miku.” Miku introduced all of them, starting from the girl behind me.

The oldest quintuplet is the one playing the prank? What a surprise. I thought it would be the youngest, but judging from the youngest sister, Itsuki’s behavior and attitude, it seemed like she was the most serious amongst the sisters. Though, that cheeky smile couldn’t be concealed on her face.

Now that I know their names, I’ll bear that in mind. Still, naming them according to their numbers is pretty…lack-l.u.s.ter. Ichi (one), Ni (two), Mi (three), Yotsu (four), Itsu (five).

Itsuka – five moons.

Yotsuba – four leaves.

Miku – three black jewels.

Nino – two ‘from’.

Ichika – one flower.

I must say, their mother has some naming sense, being able to pick up good names just from numbers. It’s at least better than windy (Fuu), big (ta), and man (rou).

“Well, my name is Uesugi Fuutarou, and she is Nishimiya Shouko. Nice to meet you.”

While I was relatively calm meeting a quintuplet for the first time in both lives, Shouko was different. She looked pretty intrigued and excited to see something new about people on this trip.

“Are you actually quintuplets?”

“Yes. We are quintuplets.” The five sisters spoke in synchronisation.

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Alternate Title: Surprise! We’re quintuplets!

A/N: Due to artistic purpose and better differentiation, the sisters have various shades of red hair color in the manga and anime adaptation (In-universe, their hair color is the same). Thus, don’t be bothered when in the future when they meet in high school again, their hair colors are the same.

By the way, I just checked with my sources again, and I realized that Rena Nakano (the quintuplet’s mother) died not because of exhaustion (like I mentioned in one of the comments) but of a terminal disease.

So the question of the week is: Do you want Rena Nakano to be saved? Beware that everything would change if Rena were to be saved, like the quintuplets not being different, they not working hard to be ‘different’ and stuff like that.

I’d rather not since it would push the story on a whole different path, but if most readers want it, I guess I would destroy my brain and develop a completely different plot, action, and drama from the anime/manga.

And do you want survival games to be present as well? Like Mirai Nikki and Darwin’s Game.