The Sound of a Silent Life

Shizuka and Tsuna were the first to recover from what had just happened.

With her adult advantage, Shizuka quickly stepped forward, grabbed the other's wrist, who was about to continue attacking, and persuaded, "Miss. Ueno, please calm down."

At this moment, Teacher Takeuchi came to his senses, hurriedly stepped forward to shield Miyako, and echoed, "Yes, yes, Miss. Ueno, please calm down. It won't look good if you continue to attack."

He racked his brains but couldn't understand why the other party was so wild and attacked without warning. He was still in shock from the earlier blow.

"Mom..."

Miyako still had tinnitus in her left ear from what had just happened, but when she heard Shoya's worried voice, she lowered her head and shook it to signal that she was fine.

Miss. Ueno found that she couldn't break free from the other's grip and glared at the head teacher for doing nothing. Finally, she took a deep breath and nodded to indicate she understood.

Shizuka saw this and released her hand.

Ueno's mother waited until she let go before continuing in an impatient tone: "The wounds on your child's face and yours—just come with me to the hospital for a checkup. I'll pay for the medical expenses."

Thinking about the kid's casual attitude earlier, she couldn't swallow her anger.

Miyako was about to speak when another voice interrupted:

"My Tsuna did it. How can I let you pay for it?" Shizuka rejected the offer without hesitation.

"Your child only acted because he saw my Naoka being bullied. I have no problem paying for it."

Ueno's mother glanced at the fair-skinned little boy beside her before continuing.

Although she could roughly tell that the boy was venting for the little girl next to him, she couldn't take it out on a child; this just helped her vent her anger.

"No, no, it's our family's problem anyway." Miyako quickly waved her hands to refuse. This time, it truly was their fault.

Ueno's mother didn't back down. She pulled Naoka to her side, pointed at her damp appearance, and said angrily:

"Fine, if you won't accept it, then let's talk about the mental damages my Naoka suffered."

Miyako was momentarily speechless but quickly recovered and said, "Yes, of course."

Then she bowed to apologize to the mother and daughter.

They discussed for a few minutes before reaching a decision. Shizuka didn't need to pay anything due to Ueno's mother's tough attitude. Seeing that the other side insisted, she didn't argue; anyway, Tsuna and Shouko were fine.

Ueno's mother used her strong stance to convince Ishida's mother to go with them to the hospital for an assessment and to pay the other party's medical fees.

As for mental damages, Ueno's mother didn't say much. She just wanted to see how much the medical bill was, then tack on a bit more.

Dong... Dong... Dong...! Just then, the school bell rang.

"Okay, I'll head back to the classroom and speak to the students."

When Teacher Takeuchi heard the bell, it felt like a song had saved him from fire and water. He greeted the parents and quickly walked out of the office.

"Let's go too."

Seeing that the teacher had left, Ueno's mother had nothing more to say. She told the mother and son to follow and walked out, holding Naoka's hand.

"What are you looking at? Everyone's gone." Shizuka noticed Tsuna staring at the hedgehog-headed boy's back and asked curiously.

Tsuna quickly snapped out of it and shook his head. "It's nothing. I was just thinking about something. Mom, you go first. Shouko and I will go back to the classroom to get our schoolbags."

Shizuka ignored the second half of the sentence and teased, "What, you think one punch wasn't enough?"

"What are you talking about? I'm a model student. How could I hit someone for no reason?" Tsuna rolled his eyes at his mother, then took Shouko back to the classroom to pack up.

——————

Around five o'clock in the afternoon.

Miyako walked out of the bank with Shouya and once again bowed to Ueno's mother to apologize.

Ueno's mother didn't say much and drove away with the small bag of money in her hand.

"Mom... I..." Shouya watched her leave before hesitantly speaking.

Miyako looked at the guilt in his eyes and the bruises on his face with a gentle expression, waiting for him to continue.

But the words she wanted never came. Shouya stammered, opened his mouth, saw the look in his mother's eyes, turned his head away, and chose to remain silent.

Miyako sighed softly, raised her hand to rub his head, and said gently:

"Be a good child from tomorrow on..."

Around ten o'clock that evening.

Naoka was lying on her bed in white pajamas, tossing and turning.

She didn't know what was wrong. Every time she closed her eyes, the scene of Miyamura hitting Shoya to defend her flashed through her mind.

She knew in her heart that the other party probably did it for Shouko, but she couldn't help thinking about it.

"Ah!! So annoying!"

Naoka angrily rubbed her hair and buried her face in the pillow.

The next day, as soon as Shouya and his two friends walked into the classroom, they noticed the girls looking at them strangely.

"What happened yesterday?" Shouya quickly asked the two as soon as they sat down.

Shimada sat on his chair, stuffed his schoolbag into the desk hole, and explained slowly:

"Yesterday, the whole class saw Ueno return, soaking wet, to grab her schoolbag.

Then, I don't know where the rumor started, but someone said you broke into the girls' bathroom and poured a basin of cold water on Ueno inside the stall."

Shoya didn't care much after hearing that. After all, they were just girls, and he didn't play with them. He threw his arms around Shimada and Keisuke's shoulders and laughed:

"Whatever. It doesn't matter anyway. Let's go out and play; there's still some time before class."

Not long after, Tsuna and Shouko also entered the classroom. However, the girls' gazes toward Tsuna and Shouya were now clearly divided.

As soon as the two got to their seats, Naoka walked over with the coat she had worn yesterday, handed it to Shouko, and said:

"Shouko, here's your coat. It's been washed and cleaned. Thank you."

After speaking, she slightly bowed to express her thanks.

This action naturally drew the attention of scattered students in the room, but most of them knew what had happened and understood that it was Nishimiya who had helped Ueno yesterday. So there wasn't much to talk about.

When she saw Naoka about to bow, Shouko quickly reached out to stop her, asked her to stand up straight, then accepted the coat, smiled gently, and said:

"It's nothing. I believe that if I had been soaked like that, you'd have helped me too."