Needless to say, Koro-sensei was adamant about her informing her of the choice in a hobby that evening, and he made that painfully clear.

Amaya was still standing in the hallway with Karma, far too comfortable to even consider pulling away from the warm embrace when her phone started chiming from within her hip pocket. It was at first a single, albeit annoying meow that Amaya was content to ignore.

However, with every meow that repeated at every passing minute in regular intervals, Amaya's form became increasingly rigid within the redhead's grip, and she could practically feel the amusement beginning to spread across Karma's face. And he certainly hadn't failed to laugh as he read the influx of emails Koro-sensei practically spammed her with right over her shoulder.

Needless to say, Amaya proceeded to send a simple response of "Go away, I'm busy." and turned her phone off for the evening.

She didn't doubt her phone would be filled with complaints and demands when she would eventually turn it back on.

The evil incarnate had pestered her to tell him what Koro-sensei had been over for, and of course, he was more than just intrigued with the fact that the Octopus hadn't pushed so much a deemed career choice, but a hobby instead. Even moreso when he'd managed to piece together from the emails he'd glimpsed that it was a more music orientated passtime the octopus was heavily directing towards.

It was as if the boy was just as eager to annoy her into taking that direction, too, and unlike Isogai and Maehara who accepted her reasons for wanting to avoid it, she knew Karma would just call her stupid before continuing to annoy her none the less.

However, as soon as Amaya started to get more than just a little annoyed with him, he dropped the topic altogether and left her more or less to her own devices.

Once again, Amaya awoke to find herself tucked away in her bed with no recollection as to how she'd even gotten there, however this time there were signs to eventually paint her a rather simple explanation; she'd either been ushered to bed after she'd begun to nod off, or the less likely scenario was that she'd just been forcibly relocated when she had passed out entirely.

There was a small note with familiar handwriting sitting on the small bedside table, held in place by a glass of water on the corner and the plastic bag of assorted medications the hospital had prescribed her. She was also still in the clothes she'd been wearing the night before, sign enough that Amaya wasn't entirely coherent when she'd ended up in bed.

[If you need anything, call me.]

A note from Karma with a very different message from his usual threats or demands, and it had Amaya hesitate for a moment.

The light filtering in from outside told Amaya it was somewhere before the start of school today, but again, there were no voices or ruckus echoing from the other parts of the house, informing Amaya along with the letter that she was alone in the house again.

Well... the lack of a threat from Karma was unusual, in a sense.

But she did as she was expected to, more or less.

Her feet lead her on an aimless wander through the house, where she found cleaning she wanted to get done, dusting that she would rather not leave to build up, and while Yuta did all the basic laundry like he had insisted back when she was delegating chores, her own clothes laundry needed tending to.

But of course, when Amaya had wandered into the laundry to do just that, atop the machine was a note taped over the front, hindering the lid from opening properly. She stared down at the blunt note with a sigh bubbling in the back of her throat, before she turned to deposit her clothing hamper back into her room.

[No housework, or else.]

Well, she'd just found the threat Karma would usually leave for her, so it probably wasn't a good idea to test his patience right now.

Fine, so if housework was out of the mix, then she guessed she should go see if she could redress her shoulder. After all, it hadn't been redressed since she woke up in hospital, and she wanted to at least see what kind of damage she was dealing with. That, and she felt like she really did need a proper shower, even if it would ache like hell.

The sling was tedious to remove, though she didn't doubt putting it back on would be even more difficult. The best she could do was utilize the mirror in the bathroom to help navigate the clip that held it in place around the back of her neck. Of course, her arm ached chronically as she ended up jostling it the wrong way, but within a tolerable span of time, she'd freed herself from the sling and was left trying to unwind the bandages.

Minutes passed as she carefully removed bandages and a surprisingly large wad of gauze to reveal what was a far more mangled shoulder than she'd expected. The contact with the somewhat cool air ripped stinging pain through Amaya's whole shoulder, strong enough where she didn't notice the initial trailing of some kind of hospital ointment and old blood down her arm until it reached past her elbow. She couldn't even see the damage from the unpleasant mix smeared over her shoulder, and surmised that all that excess of gauze was because such a mess was to be expected.

But then the sounds of knocking ripped through the house, bringing Amaya to practically jump.

A slew of curses escaped Amaya as she realized there was someone at the front door, and in among the searing pain of the cool air hitting her mangled and bandage-free shoulder, all she could do was rip the closest, clean towel from the shelf in the bathroom and carefully set it over her right shoulder so it hung down and covered her arm completely.

Of course, the rough weight against her injuries just made them hurt even more, but there was nothing she could do about that. She got the feeling that she should have waited for her siblings to get home, or even just Karma, but it was too late to complain now.

And she wasn't going to call him for something like this.

The knocking echoed once again as Amaya staggered across the living area to try and reach the door, swearing and cursing away as she struggled to keep the towel over her arm. She surmised that she was dressed adequately enough for an injured person, since it was just shorts and a tank top plus a stupid towel, but there wasn't much she could do about that.

On the other side was just three people who Amaya honestly hadn't expected to find on her doorstep, though the events the evening before should have told her otherwise. The scent of something foreign to Amaya hung on the air, though she briefly brushed it aside as she decided it was probably just something on the air, since she hadn't necessarily set foot outside for a while.

Isogai, Maehara and Kataoka stood there clad in school uniform with bags and all, with a few plastic carry-bags of items held between them, while the one Kataoka held was particularly large in comparison. They looked a bit less shocked than they had yesterday when she answered the door, though that still didn't help the rather hesitant edge to their overall expressions as they found themselves face to face with her.

Maehara cast her a brief wave with a sheepish grin in the background.

'Good morning, Amaya-san. Sorry about dropping in unannounced, again.' Isogai spoke up with a small, kindly smile. 'May we come in?'

Amaya hesitated as she felt her arm begin to shake from the pain, though she reluctantly gave her answer by wandering back inside without closing the door. She prayed her arm would be fine like this for at least a little while, though inwardly she rather doubted it.

Their timing couldn't have been worse, even if they actually tried to be as inconvenient as possible.

Amaya's thoughts tugged slowly as she wandered towards the kitchen to search for some form of beverages she could offer, though a sudden exclamation from Maehara cut her motions short.

'Hang on, Maya-chan!' The playboy had almost squawked out as he sprung into motion, shoes clattering as he scrambled to carefully stop her in her tracks. 'We brought stuff, don't worry! We didn't come unprepared or anything!'

Amaya fixed the boy with a small frown, though she eventually let out a sigh as she inclined her head forward in a brief nod.

And that was all Maehara needed to proceed to usher her towards the nearest chair in the room, much to Amaya's annoyance. She didn't bother to shrug him off or snap a rather usual rebuke that she was "fine", because nobody would listen to her, anyway. However she did slap his hand away when he went to help ease her into the chair at the dining table.

She wasn't so wrecked that she couldn't sit herself down in a damn chair without help.

Well, here she was back at the dining room table with just three uncomfortable looking students standing more or less before her. However, unlike the pitiful exchange the evening before really was, this time, the three appeared to have at least come to a sincere conclusion on their end. And besides, with the goofball playboy furiously scratching the back of his neck impatiently as the seconds ticked by, Amaya could tell he was itching to start talking. Maehara certainly couldn't be counted as the most patient person in that classroom, after all.

'This is getting too damn awkward!' Maehara ground out as he roughly tugged open the plastic shopping bag he had in his grip, earning slightly disapproving looks from the two class reps to his left in response. 'Where is it ... Ah!'

And without even looking up, Maehara tugged out can after can of what looked to be iced coffee, gently setting one on the table for Amaya before tossing Isogai and Kataoka one each.

'Maehara--'

'Maya-chan's more uncomfortable than we are, damnit!' Maehara muttered bitterly over Kataoka's attempted reprimand, causing the class rep to fall silent in an instance as the playboy turned his gaze upon Amaya. 'You look like crap, by the way. I bet you skipped breakfast again.'

Kataoka looked positively appalled, if not horrified by Maehara's blatant remark, however, Amaya felt the corners of her lips lift slightly in a smile.

'I can't claim to possess the inane talent of being able to eat while sleeping.' Amaya dismissed casually. 'Sorry to disappoint, Hiroto-kun.'

But of course she knew without a shadow of doubt that Samuel could probably eat and sleep at the same time. She wouldn't put it past Reiko, either.

'Excuses. You haven't even tried.' Maehara responded as he dragged over one of the dining chairs and sat himself down.

'I've lived most of my life dealing with energetic children and an asshole of a friend who enjoys torture and pranks. I'm sure somebody's tried to see if it would work on me at some point.' Amaya responded with an even stare.

In immediate response, both Maehara and Isogai scoffed, all the while Kataoka looked more and more bewildered by the situation.

'Considering how much you sleep sometimes, Amaya-san, I don't doubt that.' Isogai agreed with a wry smile.

It appeared that the situation was too hard for Kataoka to follow right now, for the girl looked more bewildered than anything else. And it appeared that the two boys had noticed, because Maehara just huffed and opened his can of drink while Isogai cast the girl a reassuring smile.

That strange, foreign smell was still around, growing stronger it seemed, and all Amaya could do was shrug it off. Her senses probably weren't working properly.

'You gonna drink that?' Maehara questioned Amaya as he motioned towards the can of ice coffee sitting next to Amaya on the table.

'When I can be bothered to get it open.' Amaya responded easily.

'Nah, it's not going to happen.' He responded as he slid his own can across the table towards her, and claimed her own. 'You're too lop-sided. But it beats a bottle, I guess. Guess we should be calling you lefty~'

'I could have got it open by throwing it at your head as hard as possible.' Amaya dismissed.

'What are you trying to open? The can or my skull?!'

'Whichever works, I guess.'

'Umm... Amaya-san?' Kataoka decided to speak up, earning the girl's immediate attention.

The girl of neat, ash-brown locks wore a hesitant look across her face as she held the plastic shopping bag she had by the bottom. Amaya was silent at first, until Maehara suddenly leaned forward out of his chair and put his hand over Amaya's face.

'Damnit, what's the big idea?' Amaya muttered as she found herself blinded to whatever was going on around her, and she wasn't enjoying it.

'Just don't look, yet.' Maehara instructed her, as the sounds of rustling plastic bags sounded from somewhere in the room.

'Well it's not like I have a choice in the matter, is it?' She muttered sourly.

'You could kick him in the shin, Amaya-san.' Isogai spoke up with a distinct sigh in his tone, earning an indignant exclamation from Maehara in response.

That was odd of Isogai to suggest a violent action of all things. However, she was rather intrigued.

'That's not a bad idea.' Amaya agreed.

'Oi, don't you dare!'

'It was just a sugge--' Amaya had begun, however she cut herself off as Maehara lifted his hand away and leaned back in his seat with a small smile. 'What's with that look?'

He didn't answer, and instead, Amaya found herself noticing that Kataoka was standing just next to her with something large and colourful held out towards Amaya.

'Here, this is for you.' The class rep spoke, redirecting Amaya's gaze straight down.

What looked to be an excessively large, and rather rounded budgerigar plush toy in whites, grey and sky blue was held out towards Amaya, easily half a meter in height. And what Amaya realized to be the source of the foreign smell she'd been detecting turned out to be a small bouquet of purple orchids and white chrysanthemums gently tied around the budgerigar's neck with thick, red ribbon.

Needless to say, Amaya was stunned to silence as the excessively large gift was gently eased onto her lap, failing to comprehend where exactly this had even come from.

And it appeared from the small, and rather sad smiles she could feel upon her stunned form that the three were more than aware of this.

'Umm, thank you, really...' Amaya spoke up as she finally managed to shake at least a little of the stunned stupor that had descended upon her. 'But you really didn't have to go to all this trouble...'

And this looked like it had cost them quite a bit to get this for her.

The three cast each other a brief glance, before they looked back at her once again.

'Yes, we did.' Maehara spoke with a heavy sigh as he slumped back against the chair. 'We're your friends... we're supposed to be here for you, and we've done a crap job at doing that, to be honest with you...'

'He's right, Amaya-san.' Isogai spoke up as Amaya had opened her mouth to argue, bringing her to turn her head instead. 'We understand what you were saying last night, and we know you're going to insist this being pointless because in your eyes we didn't do anything wrong. But we feel like we've done a lot wrong by you.'

Amaya was silent as she took in their words, with the fingers of her left hand gently curing around a tuft of the stuffed budgerigar's wing.

'I think ... you're being quick to take blame...' Amaya hedged as she looked back down at the budgerigar, with her breath escaping her slowly as she thought. 'But I understand, I think...'

The silence she received in response was not what one would call particularly comfortable, but it wasn't filled with the doubt and anxiety that the visitation last night had caused.

'You know, Amaya-san... We didn't know anything about what happened to you on Saturday until you brought it up yourself... We were there as practically the whole class when you left that afternoon, but well ... we decided against following you when you started shopping with your brother... We weren't the first to leave, but I don't think we were the last, either.' Kataoka spoke up quietly, with her hands wringing in front of her as she seemed to try and come up with the words she was looking for. 'Nobody told us what had happened... And even after we all left last night, nobody wanted to tell us what happened, either.'

'I'd guessed as much.' Amaya agreed.

In truth, she wasn't surprised to hear that. She certainly hadn't expected the guilty group to be all too willing to discuss it with anybody after the way Amaya had turned it on them like that.

'About you leaving, Maya-chan...' Maehara spoke up before long, bringing the girl to lift her head up in response. 'After hearing all that last night... we honestly can't blame you for wanting to leave. If you really feel it's what's best for you then we've got your back on that. I'll fight anyone who tries to say otherwise, if I have to.'

'Right...' Amaya mumbled.

'But in saying that, Amaya-san, what exactly are you going to do if you're not in our class anymore?' Isogai questioned seriously, much to the girl's confusion. 'I don't know if the school will accept you rejoining all of a sudden. You don't have the scores that Takebayashi-kun does to get invited back.'

'I was thinking of just quitting school altogether to get a job, to be honest.' Amaya dismissed as she sunk back in her chair. 'I'm not sure I'm even cut out for school anyway, and college or university is out of the question... the extra money would be helpful for my siblings, too...'

While Shigure wouldn't have too much of a problem with her decision if she actually told him it was what she wanted, she knew Karma was probably going to kill her. It wasn't a matter of if, but when he found out about this..

'If that's the way you want to go about it, then I could talk to my boss at work, if you don't mind.' Isogai offered after a brief moment's thought. 'If I explain your situation and ask for a favor, I'm sure I could get you a day or two a week working as a waitress.'

'Oh, that's a pretty good idea, Yuuma.' Maehara remarked with a slightly brighter tone to his voice. 'And that means we still get to see Maya-chan, even if it's being a customer while she's at work!'

A small smile slowly spread across Amaya's lips as she thought on that for a few moments.

'Actually, if you wouldn't mind, Isogai-kun, I'd really appreciate that...' Amaya agreed as she cast the ikemen a small smile. 'I'll know by Friday what I'm going to do, I think...'

'Then I'll drop by after class on Friday.' Isogai responded with a kindly smile.

'Thank you...'

That gave her until tomorrow morning to figure out her entire stance on Class E, and a further two days to figure out if she was going to drop out of school altogether. Just having a possible fallback felt like it was taking away a lot of weight she didn't realize she had weighing on her shoulders.

And it appeared that the three there with her were feeling much more comfortable, now that they'd had an opportunity to actually talk to her. It was a far better feeling than the pitiful state of emotional self Amaya had ever since her standing in the classroom had started going south.

'Say, I've been wondering something Maya-chan.' Maehara spoke up as he peered closely at her. 'But what's with the towel you're wearing?'

Towel?

Amaya was confused at first, until she consciously recalled the large, red length of material she was still using to cover her arm up.

'Oh, don't worry about it.' Amaya dismissed.

'You know, when somebody tells you "don't worry about it", it just makes it more curious.' Maehara continued.

'It's just a towel.'

'But what's under it?' Maehara pressed with a narrowing stare. 'You're not wearing that sling, either.'

'Amaya-san,' Kataoka began as she stepped over towards Amaya's right. 'May I have a look at your arm?'

'Umm, no, it's fi--'

'Don't lie and tell us your arm's fine!' Maehara snapped as he picked himself up out of his chair.

And with a rather clear scowl spreading across Amaya's face, she let out a heavy sigh and turned her head away.

'Fine, do what you want...' She muttered.

And with little hesitation, Kataoka gently reached over and lifted the edges of the fluffy material away.

'What the hell?! MAYA-CHA--!' Maehara practically screeched as soon as Amaya had allowed Kataoka to lift the towel off her arm, though Isogai was quick to jab his elbow into the playboy's side to cut him off.

Though the female class rep seemed to pale quite considerably as she looked down at Amaya's shoulder.

'Amaya-san, this should be cleaned u--'

'I was about to do that when you got here.' Amaya cut in quickly.

Of course, Amaya didn't miss the rather sheepish look that crossed the two boy's faces at that remark, though she pretended she had.

'Oh...' Maehara deadpanned.

'Amaya-san, where do you keep any medical supplies?' Kataoka quickly asked.

'Umm, wherever that jerk moved them to, recently...' Amaya huffed as she tried to scour her mind for any recollection. 'Probably under the kitchen sink or the cupboard next to the oven, going by the old apartment...'

And immediately, Isogai left to search in the aforementioned locations as Maehara peered over Kataoka's shoulder to look down at Amaya's injury.

'How the hell did you manage an injury like that?!' The playboy questioned in sheer disbelief.

'Umm... a baseball bat to the same place twice?' Amaya hedged, pausing as she noticed the looks she was receiving strengthen. 'I didn't have much of an option at the time...'

Maehara seemed to hesitate momentarily, before he looked down at the present they had brought for her, still sitting in her lap.

'I'll put those in water for you.' He announced as he carefully lifted the mass of material and flowers from her. 'Where do you keep your vase?'

'I don't have one.' Amaya responded honestly. 'This is the first time anyone's got me flowers in my life.'

'That bastard's been slack!' Maehara scoffed as he carefully detached the flowers from the budgerigar plushy. 'Any normal guy would have bought you flowers a long time ago if they were in his position!'

'Umm, what on earth are you going on about?'

'That damn b--'

'Maehara, that's enough.' Isogai cut the playboy off quickly as he returned with the box of first-aid materials Amaya had mentioned, along with a roll of paper towel from the kitchen cupboard.

'But--'

'Whether or not somebody else has bought flowers for Amaya-san before doesn't matter right now.' Isogai responded with a particularly clear frown written across his face. 'Here, Megu-san.'

Amaya raised an eyebrow at the way Isogai had addressed Kataoka, but didn't say anything since it was probably just an unintentional slip up.

Instead, she just let out a slow breath as she saw the two class reps begin to tend to her shoulder for her.

'Listen, can I at least go for a shower before you damn well patch me up?' Amaya muttered before they got too carried away, earning a startled look from Kataoka immediately. 'Cause that kinda was the original plan I had before you guys turned up.'

'Oh, of course.' The girl agreed with little hesitation.

Thank god for that.

In the end, nearly an hour had passed by the time Amaya's shoulder had been cleaned up and bandaged before returned to her sling, enough so where Kataoka was happy with it, and Amaya was sure that the three really were late for class. They didn't seem to particularly care, though, which was odd for both Isogai and Kataoka. Maehara, not so much.

'Well, we should probably take our leave.' Isogai spoke up before long as he cast Amaya's weary form a momentary glance-over. 'We should be getting to class, now, and you undoubtedly need your rest, Amaya-san.'

Indeed, Amaya was a bit tired, but honestly that was something that wasn't going to change for at least a short while.

'Thank you for well... stopping by and everything.' Amaya spoke as she watched the three tug their shoes on once again. 'I'm sorry I couldn't be more host-like.'

'Amaya-san,' Kataoka spoke up with a small, rather apologetic smile. 'We're the ones who dropped in unannounced, so please don't concern yourself with that.'

'...Right.' Amaya eventually agreed, with a ghost of a smile appearing across her lips. 'Guess I'll see you guys, later.'

'Take care, Amaya-san.' Isogai spoke as he and Kataoka turned to leave.

However, Maehara didn't follow suit. Instead, he seemed to struggle with a decision in the forefront of his mind, with a rather distinct scowl spreading across his face.

Amaya opened her mouth to question him, however she soon found herself at a loss of what was even going on.

She found herself stunned beyond her wit as a second later, she was engulfed in a remarkably warm embrace before she even knew it. Her wide eyes stared ahead of her as she felt the grip of her tighten, and while she had heard a started exclamation from Kataoka sound, she was too stunned to catch even the smallest of what she'd said before she fell silent.

'H-Hiroto-kun?' Amaya barely managed to squeak out in her fright, but she received no response at first.

In fact, the boy was silent for several long seconds, before his grip tightened just a little more.

'The only thing that matters right now is what you want, Maya-chan...so don't you dare let anyone talk you away from what's best for you...' She heard Maheara speak softly in her ear, just loud enough where the only person to hear him was herself. 'If they push you too much, tell me, alright? Don't just let anyone make you feel guilty for it, either. I won't stand by and let anyone push you around like this anymore.'

Amaya was silent at first, struggling to comprehend what Maehara was even talking about.

But before long, the smallest hint of a smile touched her lips as she sunk into the warm embrace.

'I'll do my best...' She whispered in response.

The seconds ticked by before Maehara finally decided to release his hold of her, and before she could straighten up properly, she was caught by surprise as she felt his lips press gently to her forehead.

He said nothing more, and all she received before he turned to leave was the smallest semblance of a reassuring look.

And then, her three visitors were gone, leaving Amaya standing on the front steps of her house in utter confusion and embarrassment colouring her face a faint, dusted pink.

Amaya's gaze shifted towards the skies she could see through the wide-spread branches of the tree shadowing her entire front yard, taking in the branches of autumn hues and the greying clouds that made up her surroundings. She decided she'd better keep Maehara's actions just now as far from Karma's knowledge as possible. After all, she certainly recalled the incidents in the past where the redhead seemed to take an immediate dislike to her friend for getting particularly touchy with her.

The sudden, irritating meow of her vandalized phone from Amaya's shorts pocket caught her immediate attention, and she grudgingly pulled the small device out to investigate what was going on.

An email was received from none other than Isogai, bringing Amaya to carefully shuffle herself inside and open it up.

[I'm sorry if Maehara's actions have startled you, but I ask you to not concern yourself with the implications, either.]

Amaya blinked at the email, before she began the slow and arduous task of replying.

[I was surprised, but well... It's not something I have to worry about, then?]

Silence, if only for a few minutes before Amaya's phone sounded multiple infernal meows in response.

[No, so please don't take his actions to be romantically inclined. It's more so that out of everyone who learned what happened to you from your own words, Maehara is taking it the hardest.]

[I know you don't need this right now, I want you to know that after we left yesterday, Maehara had quite a few things to say to our classmates, and they weren't pleasant.]

[Every word was solely in your own defense, and he made everyone aware that any further harm upon you, emotionally or otherwise, would be taken personally.]

[I hope that at least gives you some insight. In any case, please do get some rest, and I will ensure to visit on Friday afternoon, after school.]

And with that, it appeared Isogai had finished explaining what he wanted, and he wanted to leave it as that. However, Amaya's thoughts felt heavier than before after carefully reading the emails over once again, and a sigh had escaped her.

She had expected that Maehara wasn't very pleased with what's been going on, but she didn't expect it to have gotten to him as much as Isogai had just stated.

But if that's really how it was... then perhaps the visit that morning, and the gifts themselves were something Maehara had insisted upon. It made sense in a way, considering how much attention the outspoken boy paid to her.

Her gaze shifted to the particularly large budgerigar sitting atop her dining table, with one of the drinking glasses serving as a temporary vase for the cut flowers she'd been gifted as well.

Amaya's breath escaped her as she found her thoughts beginning to loop around in circles, and she lifted her gaze to look back around the silent house. She needed something to do, otherwise she was going to start dwelling on this more than it was probably necessary.

But well ... if there was nothing for her to do inside, then she guessed, perhaps she could spend some time outside. It felt an awful lot like she was starting to go crazy being locked up inside with nothing to do.

However, there was a sudden knock at the door.

Amaya blinked in surprise as she looked up at the clock, noticing that only ten or so minutes had passed since the trio had left, and if anything, second period had started a good fifteen minutes ago. Her gaze shifted to the dining table yet again, where her gaze traced for any possible belongings her friends could have forgotten and come back for. There was nothing, and as the knock at the door echoed once more, she could only let out a breath and turn back around to open the door.

However, Amaya found herself stunned once again as she found unexpected people standing outside her door.

And it wasn't in a good way, either.

Two of her "classmates" were present, apparently having taken advantage of intermission earlier to make their way down to pay her a visit, she guessed. Hara and Fuwa both stood there at the foot of the front steps with hesitant, almost anxious looks across their faces, and it didn't improve as Amaya stood there silently.

'Umm, hey Amaya-san...' Fuwa spoke up hesitantly.

Amaya's head bobbed slightly in acknowledgment, though she didn't open her mouth to speak.

'We're truly sorry for everything that's happened!' Both girls apologized as they quickly tipped themselves forward in a low bow, causing Amaya to practically flinch.

'We know you won't forgive us, and we have no right to be standing here after everything that's happened.' Fuwa continued as they remained bent forward. 'But please, we want to actually talk to you...'

A heavy breath escaped Amaya as she found herself realizing what Maehara was referring to. If talking to her in a group wasn't going to work, they were trying in smaller groups to see if it would help.

Though she was going to give them points on actually saying they want to talk over the slipup of saying they needed to talk.

'I'm sorry, but there's nothing more to be said.' Amaya spoke softly as she took a hesitant step back, earning startled gasps as both girls lifted their heads to look up at her. 'You should go back to class before Koro-sensei gets upset...'

'W-wait!' Hara called out, however Amaya gently closed the door before anything else was said.

'Please! We want to make this up to you, Amaya-san! Please don't shut us out!'

All they received in return was silence, and the trembling of Amaya's form on the other side of the door as she waited for them to leave.

However, as she had expected, that wasn't the last instance of classmates turning up to try and talk to her, either.

A mere hour later there was another knock at the door, bringing Amaya to unveil Nakamura, Kayano and Sugino on the other side. The general visit was much the same as the one just an hour before from Hara and Fuwa, combined with lowly bows and apologies that felt just the same. Again, Amaya listened as they pleaded to talk with her, to make amends, but just like before she told them there was nothing to be said, and closed the door.

It repeated an hour later with Sugaya and Kimura, and two hours later, she wound up with Chiba and Hayami standing on her doorstep.

And with every repetition, Amaya was growing more, and more sick of hearing the same, tired words spoken from groveling bows. She was growing sick of listening to apologies that felt recited from prior planning, when they couldn't even look her in the eye when they said it.

She just wanted to be left alone to get over this pain and anguish she had drowning her, but it was starting to look like the only way she was going to be left to do that was to just give in, in spite of her truest wishes.

She was drowning, and the weight they were pulling back onto her shoulders was making it increasingly difficult for her to reach for air.

After the repetition with Chiba and Hayami on her doorstep Amaya had retreated to the darkness of her room, her mind heavy with conflicting thoughts and her heart sinking lower and lower inside her chest. She curled up in the corner of her room atop the bed, with her knees tucked up towards her chest and her lone working arm firmly hugging her pillow close to her.

Another set of knocking at the front door of her house echoed before too long, bringing Amaya to bury her face in the pillow as she tried to ignore the people standing outside. She hoped they would decide to leave if it seemed like she wasn't home, or even that they would all talk among themselves and decide to just let this go.

She thought she'd chosen the simplest, albeit not entirely painless way to resolve this, but perhaps in truth she'd simply fallen prey to wishful thinking.

The tears arose and spilled over, soundlessly staining in the pillow that she clutched like a lifeline.

Eventually, through the creeping dark of her room she was greeted with movement that didn't fit the presence of two furballs escaped from their formidable wonderland set up in the central room upstairs, nor did it match the presence of their owners returned home from after-school activities, either.

Instead, it was a presence she recognized almost instinctively, even without hearing a single spoken word. The bed shifted slightly beneath the added weight, and before long, she felt the telltale presence of a hand gently resting against the top of her head.

'Amay?' She heard the redhead speak quietly.

And yet, she didn't respond.

The seconds ticked by towards minutes as the silence hung thick in the air, with little to no shift on either part. Until after what felt like many minutes, she heard Karma let out a heavy breath and pick himself up from the side of her bed. She heard his footfalls leave the room, and before long, she was all alone again.

Her fingers curled a little firmer into the pillow in her grip as she hugged it tighter, just as her eyes began to prickle with tears once again.

Just what was she supposed to do?

What choice was the right one when no matter what she did, she was getting hurt by it?

Before long, the sound of footsteps echoed once again as the dark emptiness of her room was disturbed once again. However, this time she heard the click of the lamp at her bedside switch on before the bed shifted slightly as the redhead sat himself against the wall on her left side. He didn't say anything, nor did he seem to really pay her much mind.

But then, there was a small, slight clicking sound for a moment, before she felt something odd suddenly grip onto her forearm. Two odd somethings, she realized after a moment, though she was undeniably more than just a little confused. The strange sensations shifted one after the other, reaching higher up her arm, before the feeling of claws came to her eventual notice.

By that point, Amaya was beyond confused and reluctantly lifted her head to ascertain exactly what it was that Karma had obviously set loose on her arm. She knew it wasn't a spider, even though she half-expected it.

However, as soon as Amaya had lifted her weary head to look down at her arm, she instead found herself practically flinching as she found herself staring at something utterly bizarre, and certainly the last thing she had ever expected to see.

A small bird was clambering its way up her arm, clicking and faintly chirping away, with no concern for its environment, and even more bizarre, no apprehension of even being remotely near Amaya like other birds. It's plumage of distinctly pink and yellow hues with a greyish head and green wings was a remarkable mix of colours that stood out in the faint incandescent light filtering from the lamp.

'...What the hell is this?' Amaya couldn't help but ask as the small parrot finally clambered all the way up her arm and proceeded to try and bury itself in the crook of her neck.

'It's a bird, clearly.' Came Karma's immediate response, though there was far less amusement in his tone than she expected.

'I can see that... but what the hell is it doing here?' She couldn't help but ask.

And when the hell did it even get here?

There was no immediate response from the evil incarnate sitting right next to her, however she did see him reach out and gently lift the bird from the crook of her neck, which, oddly enough earned a rather indignant squeak from it in response.

'Somebody told me about a brain-damaged bird that actually wasn't terrified of you even looking at it.' Karma eventually spoke as the parrot managed to maneuver itself back onto its feet and half-flap back towards Amaya's general vicinity, though this time it was an awkward landing atop her head. 'So I just brought it back for you, since you apparently got stubborn and said no, yourself.'

The sensation of bird feet pacing backwards and forwards across the top of Amaya's head was a bit too distracting for her to actually get cross with the sudden acquisition of another animal against her outright ban.

'But why?' She couldn't help but ask.

'Do I have to have a reason?' He responded, though he didn't sound all that surprised by her question.

'You always have one.' She countered, wincing slightly as she felt the parrot tug a strand of hair loose from her scalp as it clambered back down to resume its attempt at burying itself in her neck.

She received nothing but silence in response, though she wasn't all that bothered about it. Her hand around the pillow in her grip lifted carefully to reach up and catch the parrot as it began to slide down the line of her neck, where it let out a pleasant clicking as it decided to bury itself in her hand, instead.

A tiny smile slowly graced her features as she let herself slump sideways against Karma's shoulder, where she felt him almost jump at the sudden contact.

'Thank you...' She spoke as the pleasantly coloured parrot managed to roll itself onto its back and start gently nibbling the tips of her fingers.

Again, there was nothing she really earned in proper response, though she did felt him lift a hand and gently rest it atop her head.

Eventually, she learned that the bird handlers back at that shop had called the bird "Koko", and while apparently it didn't respond to the name, when the name was mentioned just once by the snowy-featured girl, it immediately halted in it's nibbling of her fingers to give her its immediate attention. It hadn't responded to Karma calling it by name, oddly enough.

A moderately comfortable silence had descended upon the two teenagers as the minutes ticked by, with the light outside growing gradually darker.

Amaya was vaguely told that Nagisa's mother had come in to class that afternoon to speak with Karasuma, though Koro-sensei stood in as a proxy, and it appeared that the boy's mother was adamant about Nagisa returning to the main campus. Karma didn't say very much in regards to the conversation itself, more that the timing was rather coincidental.

It brought her thoughts back to the students who had been dropping in on a near-hourly basis to beg her to stay, and her guess was that the idea of two students now possibly leaving was rather affronting to the bulk of the class.

She found herself dwelling on the fact that she had to speak to Koro-sensei in the morning, and give her final decision on the matter. And with the endless visitations she'd received, she found herself so lost that she couldn't decide what was the right decision.

In spite of Maehara's words that she shouldn't give way to what anybody else wanted of her, she found herself practically crumbling under the pressure.

'What do you think I should do...?' Amaya eventually asked, as her mind went around in circles for what felt like the hundredth time that week.

However, in spite of the lack of comprehension she expected to receive from Karma in response, his words were so prompt and to the point that it had honestly startled her.

'Don't give in, of course.' He responded without hesitation, making it perfectly clear that he'd been fairly sure of what was running through her mind. Or at least, he was quite aware of the multiple visits that had been made by the class throughout the day.

'No, that's not what I meant...' Amaya hedged as she shifted herself a little so she was leaning a little more comfortably on her left side.

Well it was, but in essence, what she really wanted to know was a little different...

'I know what you meant, Amay, but it doesn't change my answer.' He eventually responded, though his tone hinted at an exasperated sigh threatening to escape him. 'It's not what you should do, just don't give in, end of story.'

'So you don't want me to stay in class with you? Not even a little?' She questioned.

'Don't turn this on me.'

'I'm not, I'm just... curious?'

It wasn't that she wanted him to tell her what to do... she really just wanted to know what he honestly thought.

It didn't sound like there was a difference, but the fact of the matter was, to her, they were as different as salt and sugar.

However, as the seconds ticked by with no response coming from the boy sitting beside her, a knock echoed from the front door. She knew who it was for, and who was possibly there on the other side and what they undoubtedly wanted to talk about. She knew all of that, and she was getting so tired of it.

And judging by Karma's silence as she gently shifted the sleeping Koko into his outstretched hands, he knew what this was, too.

She wandered out of her room with her gaze low and her motions

On the other side stood four students from 3-E, as she had expected, however this time it was Kurahashi, Yada, Okajima and Mimura. They all stood with determined looks written across their faces, which didn't change even as Amaya stood silently in the doorway.

And there was no pause of apology for the unannounced intrusion, nor was there any form of true greeting that was befit for more pleasant instances of meeting.

Instead, they all bowed lowly and let out what felt like the most overused words she had heard.

'We're truly sorry, Amaya-san!' Came in rather awkward chorus as Amaya remained silent there in the doorway. 'Please hear us out!'

How many times had she heard those very words, today?

However, she maintained her silence to let them continue with their intention for this visit.

'We know you don't forgive us, and we know you don't want to be standing here listening to us.' Kurahashi spoke, still hunched over in that bow the four were maintaining, and undoubtedly will maintain for the whole duration of Amaya's presence, much like the others. 'But please! Don't just leave with everything this messed up!'

'We want to make this up to you, for everything we've done. Please give us a chance to prove to you how sorry we honestly are.' Yada added somberly. 'We can't do that if you really do leave the class... So please... give us just one chance!'

Amaya remained silent as she watched the group of four, neither moving nor shifting her gaze from their hunched forms.

'...I can't give you the answer you're wanting to hear.' Amaya finally spoke as the group refused to straighten up or even accept her silence as answer enough. 'So please... just go home.'

She received no verbal response, and the four didn't move.

So all Amaya could do was close the door and leave them standing there, with her heart sinking even lower in her chest.

She shook off the gaze she could feel upon her as she stepped away from the door, pretending she hadn't noticed as she moved to walk away. She walked right past Karma's form standing at the entrance of the hallway, and locked herself back up in her room.

She wanted to be alone for a while.

And in spite of her expectations, she got exactly what she wanted, one way or another.

It was some time during the pre-dawn hours of the morning by the time Amaya realized it, as she groggily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she found the led light on her phone flashing from her bedside table. She carefully reached out for it, taking note of the fact that one way or another, she'd wound up beneath the covers, and instead of clutching at the pillow like she last remembered, it was neatly beneath her head.

The clock on her phone read 5.49am, and as she carefully maneuvered her thumb along to unlock the device and navigate to the notification screen, she found a series of three emails showing across the screen, and four missed calls.

The missed calls were from various students from the class, students who had probably tried to stop by to talk to her again, but never got hold of her. She barely acknowledged more than the fact that the name wasn't particularly important to her, and she was in no mood to go returning calls, even if it were the middle of the day.

The emails however, were two from Reiko and one from Koro-sensei himself.

The ones from Reiko were not necessarily important in any true way, with the first one being an email asking her if she was awake to eat dinner, though the second one was more of an update, in a sense.

[Amay, I thought you'd want to know that some of your classmates have stopped to visit a couple times tonight, but Yuta told them you were sleeping and to go away. Is everything okay? Karma-san wouldn't tell me anything, and Yuta won't, either.]

Well... that explained why she didn't recall anything happening since she'd cloistered herself back in her room. Samuel would have come running to wake her up if he'd answered the door, and Reiko might have as well, if Yuta hadn't.

With a heavy breath, Amaya then decided to check the email from Koro-sensei.

[Please be awake and alert by 7am, Amaya-san. Sensei will be dropping in with tea and snacks.]

A sigh escaped Amaya as she lowered her phone back down to the table and carefully rest her arm over her eyes.

Well, at least her siblings will be out of the house by about 6.45am to take the train to school. So she didn't need to concern herself with the octopus turning up and bringing up uncomfortable questions.

Needless to say, there was very little Amaya could do but heed the email from Koro-sensei and at least ensure she was awake, and her siblings already left for school.

That, in and of itself was a moderately difficult task, Amaya found as soon as she had ambled out of her room at around half past six.

Her siblings were all awake and accounted for, dressed for school with lunches packed, those of which she learned were done the night before by Yuta. And as soon as the energetic two had heard Amaya's unsteady footfalls from the corridor, they were both upon her like excited, yappy dogs.

Morning greetings, wellbeing inquiries, and overall just enthusiastic attention that drained more of Amaya's energy than she liked to admit.

And she'd only been awake for three quarters of an hour by this point.

Thankfully, Yuta with his new skill of dragging his younger siblings away by the ears was effective enough to detach the two from their attempts at hugging Amaya, though not without complaints and squeaks of pain alike.

A breath escaped Amaya as she carefully set herself down in one of the chairs at the dining table, with her gaze slowly tracing over the flowers that had seemed to brighten slightly since she had been gifted them just yesterday. The floral scent that filled the living room was rather overpowering, but as Amaya sat there, just lost in her own thoughts and worries, she found herself growing rather fond of it.

Even though it was a bit late to start now, maybe she could grow some skeleton flowers in the front yard?

A courteous knock sounded from the front door just after 7am, alerting Amaya to the presence of the octopus in disguise on the other side. It was much like deja vu in a sense, however, Amaya picked herself up to answer the door, regardless.

'Good morning, Amaya-san!' Koro-sensei called out from the other side, causing her to shake her head slightly in dismay as she paused at the door. She noticed that Karma's shoes were at the door, which she guessed meant that he was here, somewhere, but she hadn't seen him.

But she guessed it really didn't matter, either which way.

The octopus stood in disguise, with a broad grin spreading across his face as he gazed upon Amaya's form as she swung the door open for him, gently bobbing his head beneath the doorframe as he stepped inside. A particularly large bag of items hung from his right arm-tentacle, which was undoubtedly the snacks he'd mentioned in his email.

'I'm glad to see you appear to be doing better this morning.' Koro-sensei announced as he shut the door behind him, craning his head around to gaze towards the kitchen, much like he had last time. 'Well then, why don't you take a seat, and I'll prepare us some tea.'

'Oh, right... umm, you left your tea set here...' Amaya shook her head slightly as she stepped around Koro-sensei to shuffle towards the kitchen. 'I think it's--'

'There's no need to concern yourself, Amaya-san, I will find it.' Koro-sensei told her as he set a tentacle gently atop her head. 'I can navigate my way through a kitchen.'

Amaya hesitated, but eventually gave in and wandered back towards her place at the dining table.

There was no use in her forcing the point too much, when she was pretty much useless until her body healed up.

Much like before, Koro-sensei tinkered in the kitchen, preparing tea as soon as he found the tea set he left behind, and plated up whatever it was that he had brought along with him.

The fingers of her hand buried in her pocket traced along the edge of her phone, her thoughts shifting to the inevitable question that Koro-sensei was going to ask her. And no matter how hard she tried to think, to will herself to decide without doubt or concerns, she honestly couldn't.

Minutes ticked by until Koro-sensei had decided he'd dallied in the kitchen for long enough. The sweet scent of anko permeated the air as Koro-sensei set a plate of anpan and various other snacks onto the table, along with two tea cups and the matching pot. The octopus was mostly silent as he set himself down in one of the chairs.

'Well, I asked you on Friday to hold off on your decision to leave the classroom until today.' Koro-sensei began as he lifted the tea pot and began to pour the steaming beverage into the two cups he'd brought out. 'While I understand a lot has happened since then, I don't doubt you have spent ample time dwelling on your choice, regardless.'

Amaya was silent as she watched the octopus gently set one of the cups next to her, before lifting his own.

'The question is, have you had a change of heart? Or are you still convinced of your decision to say goodbye? Amaya-san?'

The sound of footsteps on wood floors echoed ever so slightly through the house as Amaya tried to recover her thoughts, to answer the octopus' question as best as she could. Her head hung as she struggled, with her heart sinking as she recalled Maehara's words to her.

It wasn't enough to help her stay against the pleas she had been hounded with. It wasn't enough to help her stay strong against the waves of guilt that had plagued her. Maybe, she would have been able to, if Karma had told her more than "just don't give in".

She didn't want to stay anymore ... but they wouldn't leave her alone if she didn't. She had told them time and time again that there was nothing more to talk about, and that they needed to leave. But they wouldn't listen, and now she was so torn she couldn't even think clearly on what was even best for herself or her siblings anymore.

The best solution is often the easiest one, the one with the least resistance.

And even though it would probably wind up killing her, leaving her siblings at the mercy of Shigure's decision should she depart this world due to careless mistakes, it seemed like giving into their pleas and demands was the only choice left for her.

Koro-sensei hadn't uttered a word since he asked her that question, and he appeared content to let her take as much time as she needed to voice her answer.

'They won't stop, no matter how much I tell them to just stay away...' Amaya whispered as she hung her head and closed her eyes, with her hand in her pocket clutching tightly at the infernal device in her pocket. 'They won't take no for an answer...'

Koro-sensei paused in his motions to take a sip of his tea at those words.

'So I give up... I'll stay. Just please, make them stop.'

---=[Authors Notes]=---

First and foremost, thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed :) Our new addition to the Katsuragi household was named by DarthWaffle2332 :3 and for a quick refresher, it is a male green cheek conure with the "pineapple" mutation to its colours :) The one that just so happened to fly straight into the side of Amaya's head and ran laps around her feet, no less.

Now, I haven't put one of these in for a while, however I have one for you guys! BOOK SPOTLIGHT! Though it's not an Ansatsu book ^^; (I think Ansatsu Kyoushitsu is pretty much dead nowerdays T-T) Are any of you guys Boku no Hero Academia fans? If you are and haven't wandered past this writers book yet, please do! This book written by serayume titled "at a standstill" needs way more love, and if you guys haven't read it then please do! It's a Bakugou Katsuki book, and it's so different and it's amazingly written! Well, you guys will see if you drop on by! Thank you :D And apologies to serayume for tagging you in this book unnecessarily, it's just the easiest way to direct people along :)

And I have a favor to ask of you guys (This is going to be a bit of a long authors note T-T). I have a bit of a prank I'm wanting to pull on some people I know IRL, and I need help with that, if you guys don't mind helping me out with it. First and foremost, do any of you guys still play Pokemon Go? All cool if you guys don't. Basically to give you guys an idea of what I'm doing, I have an account I set up for fun, where its tagname looks like one a hacker-bot would have, and these three people in the Pokemon Go chat group I am a member of have seen it around and are convinced that this account belongs to a hacker. It's these three guys I want to mess with, because they are the high and mighty twenty-something aged males that think they are (putting it bluntly) god's gift. They bemoan this hacker account they presume from another country whenever they see it, and they hate it beyond reason. They've even given legitimate people in the same group attitude because they were over in Japan and caught farfetch'd way back in gen 1 release. So, it got me thinking that it would be cool to mess with them further, and the best way to do that? Get some regional pokemon you can't get here in Australia (We just have Kangaskhan), fill up all the gyms with these regionals, and watch these guys go spastic over this new "hacker" plaguing the town with pokemon they can't get xD That's kind of why I need help, and if any of you can help out, it would be much appreciated! Anyways, if nobody can, it's all cool, cause it's just a prank. Just thought I'd put this out there anyways.

Ah well, moving on, here's our translation notes:

Ninjū - Translates roughly as Resignation, as in to give in or submit to another's will, which should be written as 忍従 in Japanese, if I'm not mistaken.

All the best, guys~!

<3 Loki-Roki