It has been a long time since Natsume was before the door of her house: 2 weeks to be precise, those two weeks she spent in Gat-Erol, a far-away world, completely different from hers. A world full of magical creatures and beings that she had never seen before. A world in which she only had one goal: destroying herself. It was there where she found her childhood friend Sacchan, and it was there where she found out what she felt towards that girl… and what Sacchan also felt for Natsume. After many harsh trials, Natsume found her path among the sadness and pain that engulfed her for so many months. Now, she was ready to fix her mistakes, all the problems she had caused to everybody and all those fights she picked, and build a future for her and Sacchan. But before that, she had to go through that door… and she was scared.

She was scared of meeting her parents again. The teen accepted the responsibility for her actions, but it all started when her father, Katsuhiro, forced her to quit her highschool soccer club. Afraid of parting ways with Sacchan by doing so, she proposed a risky deal that brought a bad outcome. On the other hand, her mother Kaori didn’t intervene at any time during all this, but Natsume could see how her mother suffered because of her actions. Natsume saw her crying when she didn’t give any answer or rejected the meals she prepared for her daughter. Surely, after disappearing for two whole weeks, both of them would be worried… or angry. Natsume had reasons to be scared, but she changed. So far she only tried to run away from everything, but she was ready to face the consequences. Her hand was shaking when she opened the door and entered the hallway. She took her sneakers of and said:

-He… Hello?

Natsume took a good look at the corridor leading to the living room and the kitchen, with some stairs at the right side to go to the upper floor. She knew that place very well, but after so long, she felt a bit of nostalgia. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a noise, her mother appearing from the kitchen some seconds later. She had around 45 years, brown hair tied in a pony tail that rested on her left shoulder, wearing simple blouse and skirt, both of them covered with a brown apron. For an instant, mother and daughter looked at each other silently: the teen didn’t know what to say and the lady couldn’t believe what she was seeing. However, she was the first one to say something:

-Na… Natsume...- Kaori muttered.

-Hi… mom...- answer Natsume in a low voice.

Not needing anything else, the woman run across the corridor and rushed towards her daughter to give her the strongest hug she ever did. She could say any comprehensible word, just a cut voice and sobs while tears fell down on her cheeks. It was then when Natsume understood that, after all the problems and their rift, her mother still loved her. She loved her after all that. Feeling both guilt and happiness, the daughter hugged Kaori too. The mother was shocked, wide-eyed, after seeing that her daughter was not just hugging her: she was also sobbing on her shoulder. It was the first time in a long while that the mother saw Natsume show any kind of emotion. Nobody said anything, since they didn’t want that moment to stop… but that moment didn’t last for long.

-¡Natsume!

Katsuhiro, a tall man with black hair, glasses, square-faced, wearing a sweater and jeans, moved towards them with hush. Contrary to Kaori, his face was full of rage. He stopped in front of them. Natsume was scared, unconsciously looking away from her father, who raised a hand to slap her in her face. Natsume closed her eyes, preparing for the hit, but then felt her mother stopped hugging her and stood between both of them. She stretched her arms out as much as she could, acting as a shield for her daughter. With cold eyes, she said to her husband:

-Don’t you dare.

Nobody moved for some seconds. Katsuhiro was frustrated at seeing his wife defending the kid that had caused so many problems, but her eyes made him so mad that he didn’t want to do it anymore.

-Kitchen, now!- shouted Katushiro while moving impatiently.

Natsume’s breathing was heavy, just like her mother’s as she checked. Both of them were nervous, although for different reasons. Kaori looked at her daughter, smiled and lent a hand to help her stand up. They slowly went to the kitchen, where her father was already sitting at one side of the table. Kaori sat next to him and Natsume sat down in front of them both. The room was filled with tension. After some silent minutes, the “interrogation” began.

-Where have you been?- asked Katsuhiro with a severe voice while holding back his anger.

-In… in Tomayashi, a neighbor town- answered Natsume. Of course she had to lie, but both Sacchan and she knew nobody would believe their story, so they made up a new one that was more believable. -An old high-school friend lives there. Her family took me in during these days.

-Why didn’t you phone?- asked Katsuhiro almost instantly after Natsume stopped talking.

-I… I left my phone here and I didn’t remember your numbers- answered Natsume. That was a half-lie: she didn’t have her phone this whole time, but there was no way to contact them from the other world… nor there was any desire on her part to do so at that moment.

Silence once again. After a while, the father asked something that the daughter never expected.

-Have you been trafficking drugs?

-What? No!- exclaimed Natsume.

-Katsuhiro, how can you even think…?- Kaori tried to intervene.

-Silence!- exclaimed Katsuhiro to stop her wife from saying anything else. -Have you been robbing? Are you in a gang?

-No! I’m not in a gang… and I haven’t done anything bad all this time, I swear- answered Natsume.

-How do you explain all this then? Do you even understand how worried we were about you? And what we had to go through with everybody in the town and the job?- asked Katsuhiro, rising his voice even more.

-Please, stop! She’s already nervous. We all are nervous right now- begged Kaori.

After that, the situation calmed down and it was silent once again. Natsume looked down until she glimpsed a silhouette: Kaori extended her hand over the table so her daughter could see it. She raised her head and could take a look at her mother’s face. She couldn’t remember when Kaori looked at her with so much affection for the last time.

-You can trust me, dear- said Kaori with her sweet voice. -Tell us what happened, please.

Natsume calmed down after hearing those words. She took a deep breath and began talking.

-I… I need to get away from everything for a while- explained Natsume. -I needed time to… think. Thinking about what has happened for the last months, about all the problems I caused, about all the troubles I got in… I felt lost and… broken. I thought my life had no meaning anymore and I didn’t know what to do to fix that. I was desperate and lonely and knew that everything would stay the same if I remained here. That’s the reason I left. I know not telling you was wrong and I’m sorry, but I really needed to go. I didn’t know where, honestly, until I arrived to Tomayashi and met my friend by chance. She and her family took me in until I made up my mind.

-But I don’t understand how everything started in the first place- inquired Kaori. -It was so sudden. Is this related to the soccer club? About how you were expelled from it?

-Yes and… no- answered Natsume and then, she took another deep breath. She knew her father would be upset for what she was going to say, but she had to. -The real reason why I didn’t want to quit the soccer club was because I thought I would lose my friends if that happened. My friends are really important to me, we’ve always been together. I was afraid that, by leaving the club, we would grow apart and I would lose them. When dad told me to quit the club, I was scared, that’s why I proposed that stupid deal about both having perfect grades and not losing a match. I worked so hard to be the best, it was important to have the best grades and win every match. Unconsciously, I became obsessed with victory and perfection. I knew I would lose everything even with the smallest mistake. I was so focused and obsessed that… I ended up hurting Sacchan. She is really important to me, for all my life. When I hit her and twisted her ankle, I felt horrified about myself. I hated myself for that. At that moment, leaving the club didn’t matter: I knew for sure I lost my friends forever. After that, nothing made sense. I had nightmares every night, always reliving that same moment. I could see Sacchan’s and everybody’s eyes horrified for what I did. I couldn’t sleep well and felt bad, so I started sneaking out at night and got into fights. Deep inside, the only thing I wanted was… having my friends back into my life…

Natsume stopped talking. She couldn’t hold her tears anymore. She lowered her head as she cried, tears falling on her hands that grasped her shorts. It was then that a something hit the table.

-Do you really expect me to believe all this happened for such a trifle?- asked Katsuhiro shouting as much as he could. -All the neighbors gossiping about us, every time the police took you home, everything… for that stupid thing? I told you to leave the club and focus on your studies, which are way more important. You dug your own grave and now you expect that…?

-Shut up.

The father stopped speaking. Even with all that shouting, both he and Natsume heard that whisper: it was Kaori, whose head was lowered.

-What did you say?- asked Katsuhiro.

-I told you to shut up!- shouted Kaori this time as she stood up, facing her husband. Both Natsume and he were shocked and wide-eyed. It was the first time the teen saw her mother behaving like this, but she continued. -All this time… it was your fault all this time!

The woman pointed at her husband, who stepped back astonished.

-”My fault”? How do you dare to say that? Are you blaming me too?- asked Katsuhiro with irony.

-Natsume was doing great! Her grades were good and she had fun with her friends playing soccer, but no, that was not enough for you. You needed your daughter to be the best. You already decided her life planes without even asking her. And when that stupid deal began, you already knew that she would fail at any moment, no, you were looking forward to that. You said it would be a great lesson for her, that she would “come to her senses”. The day she was expelled, when we took all her belongings from her room, I saw you smiling. You smile at your very own daughter’s demise!

-You… you saw that too?- asked Natsume shocked at her mother.

Kaori turned towards her daughter. They both understood just by looking at each other: both of them saw Katsuhiro smiling at that time, but they didn’t know each other saw that. Natsume always thought her mother didn’t see the man’s despicable act, or even she looked away. On the other hand, Kaori always thought her daughter was so affected that she didn’t notice. Kaori couldn’t get a hold of herself anymore as a tear began running down through her cheek.

-Yes… I saw that- answered Kaori slowly. -I saw… everything. I saw you working so hard everyday. All you did was training and studying, studying and training. You were exhausted everyday, but you always told me nothing was wrong and smiled at me. But I knew something was wrong. When you were expelled, you changed, you… were and weren’t here at the same time. Your eyes looked so empty, barely talked and I didn’t have the courage to ask. I regret that now. I regret so much not being by your side, leaving you completely alone and not doing anything to help you. I’m so sorry, my child.

At that moment, Kaori walked to the other side of the table and hugged her daughter. Natsume could feel the warmth of that hug as well as the sincerity of that apology. She felt so bad then. She remembered every time she ignored her mother, all those wasted meals… and every time she saw her mother crying while pretending to wash the dishes. After everything she did, her mother still hugged her and blamed herself. Natsume hugged her mother tightly and began bawling as she only did once before: when she confessed her feeling to Sacchan just a few days ago.

-I’m… I’m sorry! I’m so sorry for everything… I’m sorry for hurting you… I didn’t want to… Waaaaaaaah!

Natsume kept repeating that as she cried. The mother caressed her daughter’s back while consoling her.

-It’s OK, dear. Don’t worry, everything’s fine now- said Kaori with her sweet voice while crying.

They stopped hugging after a while, but Natsume still sobbed, her breathing broken.

-I… I promise… I won’t cause any more problems and… I will study and… and...- stuttered Natsume.

-Don’t worry about that now- answered Kaori. -What matters is that you’re back, safe and sound. That’s all I care about.

Kaori caressed her daughter’s hair and face. She could see now a special light in her, the same light she had for so many years. She got her daughter back and didn’t wish for anything else at that time. After that, Kaori stood up and looked at Katsuhiro.

-Don’t you have anything to say to your daughter?- Kaori asked with a firm voice. -Are you not apologizing?

-I told you I don’t have anything to apologize for!- exclaimed Katsuhiro angrily. -I only wanted her to have a bright future! It was her who threw everything away!

Silence once again, although a cold one this time. Husband and wife looked at each other without saying anything. In some way, Katsuhiro expected his wife to come to her senses. However, her face still impassive, Kaori just said.

-I see…

She turned towards Natsume and smiled again.

-Say, are you hungry? I can prepare you a quick meal- asked Kaori sweetly.

-No, I have already eaten… If you don’t mind, I’d like to go to sleep- answered Natsume.

-All right. I’ll go with you to your room- said Kaori.