"Shouko, my mom should be here too, right?" Tsuna raised his hand and rubbed her soft face.
"Hmm~" Shouko raised her hand and slapped his dirty hand away, glared at him shyly, and replied softly, "Hmm, Auntie is behind me. She should be here soon."
Knock! Knock! As soon as Shouko finished speaking, there was a knock on the door, and everyone in the office was attracted by the sudden sound.
Shizuka walked to the door of the teacher's office according to her memory and saw several people inside. She knocked first, and when she saw them looking at her, she nodded to the teachers and said softly, "Excuse me."
"Tsuna, you're not hurt, right?" Shizuka walked up and touched her child's head. She noticed from the corner of her eye that Shouko wasn't crying or anxious, and roughly judged that her child was not hurt. She silently breathed a sigh of relief.
"No." Tsuna shook his head to indicate that he was fine.
After receiving the response, Shizuka nodded, withdrew her hand from his head, and quickly looked at the hedgehog-haired child sitting on the chair with his eyes closed. He wasn't injured and wasn't crying. She figured it was just a minor conflict. Still, she felt the boy looked familiar—like she'd seen him somewhere before.
Teacher Takeuchi, who was sitting nearby, quickly tidied her appearance when she saw Shizuka enter. She then stood up and explained in a gentle voice, "Mrs. Miyamura, don't worry. Student Miyamura isn't hurt." First impressions mattered, especially when the other party was President Miyamura's wife.
Shizuka politely greeted the man with glasses, "Hello, are you Mr. Takeuchi, the new homeroom teacher for my son Tsuna?"
After Mr. Takeuchi briefly introduced himself, he pointed to the sofa beside him. "Mrs. Miyamura, please have a seat. Let's talk once the other parent arrives."
"It's okay. The children and I will stand and wait." Shizuka waved her hand, declining his offer, thinking the other parent should arrive soon.
Teacher Takeuchi could only smile awkwardly. Since she insisted, he couldn't push it.
Knock knock... Another knock sounded, and everyone looked toward the door.
Tsuna immediately recognized the woman standing there as the mother of the hedgehog-haired boy. He had seen her a few times before, even spoken to her during the third-grade parent-teacher meeting. Her hair was mostly yellow now, though the top had been dyed black since then.
"Excuse me, I'm Shōya's mother." After the teacher told her Shōya had been in a conflict, she assumed he'd hit someone again and rushed over as soon as she hung up the phone.
The other teachers averted their gazes, seeing that the matter didn't concern them. Shōya, hearing the familiar voice, opened his eyes and looked toward her.
In stark contrast to Shizuka's composed entrance, Shōya's mother—Miyako Ishida—hurried over, squatted down, and began carefully checking her son. "How are you, Shōya? Are you hurt?"
"So annoying! What are you doing?" Shōya slapped her hand away with a sullen face. When she wouldn't give up, he directly pushed her.
"Auntie, be careful." Tsuna quickly supported her from behind as she nearly lost her balance.
"Thank you." Only then did Miyako notice it was Tsunayoshi who had been in conflict with her son. After thanking him, she stood up, gave an apologetic smile to the mother behind him, and gently rubbed his head. After all, who didn't like a well-behaved and good-looking child?
"Ahem!" Teacher Takeuchi, who had been ignored, cleared her throat twice. After drawing the parents' attention, she slowly explained what had happened.
"Why did you try to tear up Miyamura's textbook?" After hearing the whole story, Miyako still didn't understand and turned to Shōya. She asked gently.
Shōya responded disdainfully, "Why?"
Should he admit in front of so many people that he'd been scared by his earlier action and was just trying to save face by giving him—and the boys in class—a warning?
"Shōya!" Miyako snapped angrily.
Hearing her tone, Shōya suddenly felt wronged and shouted, "I just don't like him! A grown boy hanging out with girls every day—and he can't even take a joke!" Then he ran off.
"Shōya..." Miyako couldn't stop him, but it wasn't appropriate for her to chase after him now. There were still matters caused by him that needed settling.
"The problem was caused by my child after all. I'm very sorry." Miyako bowed to Shizuka.
Shizuka was startled by the sudden gesture. She quickly bowed back and said apologetically, "No, no, my child was also in the wrong." Though she didn't think Tsuna had done anything wrong, she said it out of courtesy.
"Teacher Takeuchi, I'm sorry. It's the first day of school, and he has already caused trouble. I'll take Shoya home and teach him a lesson today." Miyako stood up, bowed slightly to the teacher, and walked out anxiously without waiting for a reply.
"Thank you for your time today, Teacher Takeuchi. I'll take Tsuna and Shouko home now as well." Seeing the matter was settled, Shizuka held the children's hands and prepared to leave.
"Alright then." Teacher Takeuchi nodded. The next couple of periods were self-study anyway, and he wasn't keen on teaching anything on the first day.
"Mom, Shouko, and I will go back to the classroom to clean up first." As they stepped out of the office, Tsuna gently freed himself from his mother's hand and looked up to say softly.
"Okay. I'll wait for you by the school gate downstairs." Shizuka let go of Shouko's hand, said a few words, and walked down the stairs.
"Let's go, Shouko." Tsuna extended his left hand to her.
"Hmph!" Shouko snorted at him, ignored the gesture, and walked directly toward the classroom.
-----
"Um, classmate, do you want me to buy you a new one?" Tsuna followed Shouko into the classroom and stopped in front of a girl's desk, asking softly.
"No, no, my umbrella isn't broken," the girl said, hurriedly waving her hands.
Tsuna apologized to her, left some money for the umbrella, and walked back to his seat.