Sensei(Her teacher)  had not contacted her mother, that she was pretty sure of. She had also hoped against hope that she would forget about Saeki-chan's parents too. Even though she spent the whole evening dreading about it and mentally preparing for the worst outcome, when the moment finally came, she realized that she was scared. Pathetically scared.

She heard another cry. It didn't take her much time to recognize the voice this time - it was Saeki's. He was crying.  

And then she heard a slap.

She winced. Not realizing it, somewhere in between, she had risen from the chair she was sitting on. It seemed that the unexpected guests where now right outside their doors. 

Any minute now ..

The fear was real. Her vision blurred. Involuntarily, her shaking hands reached out to wipe her tears. And then she heard the second slap. Ayumi sniffled.

Not sure of what she is supposed to do now, Ayumi decided that the best option would be to silently go upstairs and hide in her room. And when all the commotion dies, she could come out.

She didn't have to make to a decision because by this time, her mom had already appeared in the room and made that decision for her. The lady glared at Ayumi questioningly, as if to ask her if she was the one who was responsible for the noise. 

Nao's mother replied, instead. "Pardon my intrusion, Mrs Matsuo. Would this be a good time to talk?"

Ayumi's mother welcomed her inside, who came in dragging alongside, a crying Nao. 

The kid snorted. His face was a mess, stained by tears. 

She could feel her legs shake and go weak, but Ayumi tottered forward. Her eyes met those of the hostile guest's for a brief moment.

She must've been really irritated, for at this point, Nao's mother decided to drop the formalities. The matter needed to be settled as soon as possible. 

"Did you recieve a call from Ayumi's Sensei?" 

"No. But what's that got to do with you, Saeki-san?"

Ayumi looked at her mother. They hadn't even gotten to the problem yet, but the tension in the room was high already. Her mother looked ready to pounce.

"Haah .." Nao's mother scoffed. "Must be nice, huh? Your daughter gets my son into trouble everytime and then when get they caught, the blame's always thrown on just him! "

"What are you going on about, Saeki-san? I know we have had spats before, but coming here, to my house uninvited and making these ridiculous accusations - do you not have the least bit of understanding of what's acceptable and what's not?"

"I'll save that for some other day,  Matsuo-san. Right now, I'm only interested in talking about what your daughter did at school today. Wait, do you even know what she did?" She sneered. 

Ayumi's mother turned to look at her daughter. The kid looked scared for sure but she also avoided her eyes. Grabbing Ayumi's chin, she forced the child to face her.

"Ayumi-chan, what is she talking about? Did you something naughty at school again? " 

The interrogation fetched no results and annoying her mother even more, Ayumi had started to cry. The whimpers from the other side suddenly grew louder too.

"What did she do?" The mother asked in all seriousness. Disdain had left her demeanour since she'd sensed from the way the kids behaved that the lady wasn't spouting nonsense.

"She shoved a kid from her class to the ground."

Her mother sure was surprised to learn this, but the one left most surprised in the room was Ayumi. Her cries came to a halt.

When she looked at Nao, he wouldn't meet her eyes.